Talk:Tarball

Isn't a tarball just a .tar, not necessarily compressed? See the Jargon File. --EvilSporkMan


 * Technically, but I think compression should be allowed/optional and still call it a tarball. --Snags 22:01, Mar 5, 2004 (EST)


 * Agreed that a compressed TAR is still a tarball, but the definition shouldn't force that imo. EvilSporkMan 22:03, Mar 5, 2004 (EST)

IMO, EvilSporkMan's correct. It should be revised to describe tape archives and mention that they are usually compressed. As is, it sounds like it *excludes* an uncompressed tar file. Don't forget bzip2 compression.

Digiot 22:23, Mar 5, 2004 (EST)

This article has at the moment the style "what we did not want to know about a tarball, but were forced to learn". If someone reads this article, he will be a beginner, right ? But you do not "fetch" the beginner from where he is: You do not mention that a tarball is a file. You do not mention this typically ends in .tar or .tar.gz. You confuse the beginner by saying it IS a "tape archive" ("A tarball is another name for a Tape ARchive") where you could state it is a file. You also do not say that a tarball can be downloaded from the internet (in this case, it would be clear it is a file), instead you say "Tarballs are often used to distribute Linux software". The only relevant sentence ("It is worthwhile to note that while one will usually find a compressed tarball, a tarball consisting of individually compressed files is much less susceptible to damage (damage to the former results in everything following the damage becoming unreadable, while damage to the latter results in the damaged archive becoming unreadable).") is not backed by sources or references. You do not help the user by telling him how to unpack/extract the tarball. Now I have written more text to tell how bad this article is than the complete article's size. Congratulations! --ThorstenStaerk 11:09, May 17, 2008 (UTC)