Add sparse file support to cpio [PSARC/2008/727 Self Review]

[Andrew Gabriel]

Garrett D'Amore wrote:
> 3) Anyone else looking for sparse file support should be strongly 
> urged to use the existing pax (or star, if you prefer.   I don't want 
> to get into a debate about Sun pax vs. star vs GNU tar.  Its not this 
> case.)

I think that's a shame. The standard sysadmin archivers are tar and 
cpio. pax has never come close to being adopted, and given how long it's 
been around, I think I can safely say it never will. It would be good to 
see sparse support in cpio. At least, I hope it will do so in copy (-p) 
mode where this archive format discussion is irrelevant, and the fact it 
doesn't copy the original file faithfully is simply a bug.

-- 
Andrew