Description of problem:

When attempting to append to a compressed archive, tar ends with SIGABRT and produces a core file, rather than a message that is helpful to the user.  Customer acknowledges that the usage is incorrect and the correct usage is documented, but feels an error message would be more appropriate than a core dump.

In RHEL6 (tar-1.23-3.el6), this has already been modified to return a message to the user saying:

"tar: Cannot update compressed archives
Try 'tar --help' or 'tar --usage' for more information"

Requesting that this fix be backported to RHEL5


Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):

tar-1.15.1-30.el5


How reproducible:

Steps to Reproduce:
1.   echo "hello" > file1
2.   echo "goodbye" > file2
3.   tar zcvf mycompressedarchive.tar.gz file1
4.   tar zrvf mycompressedarchive.tar.gz file2
  
Actual results:

"Aborted (core dumped)

Expected results:

tar: Cannot update compressed archives
Try 'tar --help' or 'tar --usage' for more information

Additional info: