[ovs-dev] [PATCH] configure.ac: Enable 'tar-ustar' by default

[Finucane, Stephen]

> On Fri, Dec 19, 2014 at 10:19:10AM +0000, Stephen Finucane wrote:
> > Automake defaults to the 'v7' legacy tar format in GNU tar, through
> > passing of the '-o' parameter to GNU tar. Enabling this option results
> > in errors for users with 32 bit UIDs:
> >
> >     $ make dist
> >     ...
> >     tardir=openvswitch-2.3.90 && ${TAR-tar} chof - "$tardir" | GZIP=--
> best gzip -c >openvswitch-2.3.90.tar.gz
> >     tar: value 12345678 out of uid_t range 0..2097151
> >     tar: Exiting with failure status due to previous errors
> >     make[1]: Leaving directory `/development/ovs'
> >     ...
> >
> > The 'tar-ustar' format is a 1988 POSIX standard that allow longer file
> > names and other niceties. It's use is an option in Automake 1.9+.
> > Enable this option.
> >
> > Signed-off-by: Stephen Finucane <stephen.finucane at intel.com>
> > Reviewed-by: Mark D. Gray <mark.d.gray at intel.com>
> 
> Doesn't this affect every program that uses Automake?  Have you
> reported it to the Automake mailing list?  Is there an upstream fix?

In theory, yes - this would affect every user with a 32bit UID who wishes to use the auto-generated 'dist' target or its variants. I don't think it's a bug per se - more of a legacy issue (the older tar, emulated by 'tar -o', simply didn't support 32bit UIDs).

I had hoped there would be a 'configure' option or other command line way to change the default tar executable, but neither the documentation nor the Autotools source revealed such an option.

I'll ping the Automake mailing list to confirm that this is the best way to approach this, just in case.