Package: cpio Version: 2.6-17 Severity: normal In the info page, we have the following switches defined for the various modes:
`-i, --extract' Run in copy-in mode `-o, --create' Run in copy-out mode. `-p, --pass-through' Run in copy-pass mode. While I think copy-in and copy-out are the opposite of what I think they logically should be, the problem is with the --sparse option and it's description. Either the info page is wrong or `cpio` is 'slighly broken'. The info page states: `--sparse' Write files with large blocks of zeros as sparse files. This option is used in copy-in and copy-pass modes. ...but in practice that's not the case.. darkside:/bin# ls |cpio -o > /tmp/cpioarchive 7976 blocks darkside:/bin# cpio -i --sparse < /tmp/cpioarchive cpio: --sparse is meaningless with --extract ...and contrary to what the info page states, --sparse is accepted in copy-out mode: darkside:/bin# ls |cpio -o --sparse > /tmp/cpioarchive 7976 blocks -- System Information: Debian Release: 4.0 APT prefers testing APT policy: (600, 'testing'), (500, 'testing-proposed-updates'), (50, 'unstable'), (1, 'experimental') Architecture: i386 (i686) Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash Kernel: Linux 2.6.19-cks2 Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8) Versions of packages cpio depends on: ii libc6 2.3.6.ds1-8 GNU C Library: Shared libraries cpio recommends no packages. -- no debconf information
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