Description of problem: If pax attempts to create a ustar format archive with absolute path names it fails on paths that are exactly 100 characters long. Where the length is <100 or 101-254 it works. Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): pax-3.0-9 How reproducible: always Steps to Reproduce: 1. unpack the attached tar with tar -x -C / -f pax_abs_test.tar 2. pax -w -f /var/tmp/px.tar /var/tmp/pax_abs_test -x ustar 3. Actual results: pax: File name too long for ustar /var/tmp/pax_abs_test/this_file_fails_because_the_absolute_filename_is_exactly__100__characters_long Expected results: no errors, complete tar. Additional info: The pax source contains a specific mention of the boundary condition where the name is of the form /str and 100 characters long and errs on the side of absolute posix adherence. What it fails to account for is when the name is of the form /dir/str and the length is 100 characters. In this situation it would be valid to perform the normal split procedure as long as the split is not at the first character.
Created attachment 154110 [details] tar file with absolute names of varying lengths to illustrate problem/test solution.
Created attachment 154111 [details] patch to fix absolute 100 char file issue
This request was evaluated by Red Hat Product Management for inclusion, but this component is not scheduled to be updated in the current Red Hat Enterprise Linux release. If you would like this request to be reviewed for the next minor release, ask your support representative to set the next rhel-x.y flag to "?".
As RHEL-4.9 is last update for RHEL-4 and it is not suitable for new features and should address only security, performance and critical issues, I'm closing that bugzilla WONTFIX. Problem is fixed in RHEL-5.