UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hi all,

I am attempting to read tar images from a DLT tape, and have recieved an error, which i don't know:

tar: blocksize = 8
tar: directory checksum error

I have been able to read from other tapes, using the same command (tar -tvf /devicename) but this time i have an error.

Can anyone firstly tell me what it means, and secondly, how to get round it?

Thanks in advance

Rich

If your default blocking factor is smaller then the blocking factor used to create the tape, it will let you know what the blocking factor is and error out with a tape read error. It may be that is the case although the default blocking factor should be 10.

See the man page on tar and search for block or blocksize. It should have examples of this.

You can try your command with a blocking factor to see if that helps get around it:

# tar -tvbf 8 /devicename

I have stipulated the blocksize using the b option, but am stlll getting this "tar: directory checksum error".

Any ideas of how to solve this part?

Thanks

Looking up the error on SunSolve shows this error if the file was created with gtar (GNU tar). If this is the case, there are times when SUN's tar will not extract files and give this error OR will extract some files and stop with this error. The 'fix' is to use gtar which can be downloaded from Sun Freeware

Did you create the tar file or is this part of a package you are installing?