docs/97059: pax(1): -b option description could be flawed

[Coleman Kane]

The following reply was made to PR docs/97059; it has been noted by GNATS.

From: Coleman Kane <cokane at FreeBSD.org>
To: Giorgos Keramidas <keramida at freebsd.org>
Cc: bug-followup at freebsd.org
Subject: Re: docs/97059: pax(1): -b option description could be flawed
Date: Thu, 11 May 2006 04:22:06 +0000

 On Wed, May 10, 2006 at 11:04:14PM +0300, Giorgos Keramidas wrote, and it was proclaimed:
 > > The pax(1) manpage states the following for the -b flag:
 > >
 > >   -b blocksize
 > >         When writing an archive, block the output at a positive
 > >         decimal integer number of bytes per write to the archive
 > >         file.  The blocksize must be a multiple of 512 bytes with
 > >         a maximum of 64512 bytes.  Archives larger than 32256
 > >         bytes violate the POSIX standard and will not be portable
 > >         to all systems.  A blocksize can end with k or b to
 > >         specify multiplication by 1024 (1K) or 512, respectively.
 > >         A pair of blocksizes can be separated by x to indicate a
 > >         product.  A specific archive device may impose additional
 > >         restrictions on the size of blocking it will support.
 > >         When blocking is not specified, the default blocksize is
 > >         dependent on the specific archive format being used (see
 > >         the -x option).
 > >
 > >   Specifically, the statement:
 > >
 > >         Archives larger than 32256 bytes violate the POSIX
 > >         standard
 > >
 > >   This could be worded better as:
 > >
 > >         Archive block sizes larger than 32256 bytes violate the
 > >         POSIX standard
 > >
 > >   This sounds more like what the author might have meant.
 > 
 > True.  Limiting the _full_ archive size to 32KB is contradictory
 > with the previous sentence about 64512 bytes, and would render
 > pax(1) pretty useless anyway.
 > 
 > Feel free to make the manpage change, or let me know and I'll do it.
 > 
 
 I'll tackle it.