Quote:
Originally Posted by
thye
I agreed GNU-tar is "against the cultural tradition of UNIX" but [...] By using GNU-tar it save us a lot of time,i believe.
I guess this is why the shell was invented in first place: to glue together all the little specialized tools which do only what they are intended to do, but
that they do efficiently.
For the same reason one might need a tool that lists a directory and to translate its contents into chinese - that doesn't mean it would be a good idea to incorporate a translator for chinese into "ls".
If you buy tools (out in the real world, not on a computer) you'd usually buy screwdrivers, hammers, saws, etc.. These tools may serve only one purpose (a screwdriver for handling screws, a hammer for hammering, etc.), but ideally they serve this purpose well. If you try to buy a screwdriver which is a saw and a scissor and a hammer at the same time you'll end up with some sort-of "72-functions-swiss-army-knife", which does serve a lot of purposes all equally bad.
bakunin