[Bug 70610] Re: Unable to uncompress .Z files without a "compress" binary

[Javier P.L.]

** Bug watch added: Debian Bug tracker #160263
   http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=160263

** Also affects: tar (Debian) via
   http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=160263
   Importance: Unknown
       Status: Unknown

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/70610

Title:
  Unable to uncompress .Z files without a "compress" binary

Status in “tar” package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Released
Status in “tar” package in Debian:
  Unknown

Bug description:
  Binary package hint: tar

  Tar appears unable to uncompress a .Z file (produced with the
  "compress" utility) without the "compress" binary being present on the
  system.  This should not be necessary because "gzip" is (and always
  has been) quite capable of uncompressing compress-ed binaries.

  To repeat:

  1. obtain a .tar.Z file, e.g.
  ftp://aixpdslib.seas.ucla.edu/pub/ldd/RISC/5.1/exec/ldd.1.0.tar.Z

  2. Execute:
      tar xf ldd.1.0.tar.Z

  Expected result: the tar file is uncompressed.

  Actual result: error:

  tar: compress: Cannot exec: No such file or directory
  tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now
  tar: Child returned status 2
  tar: Error exit delayed from previous errors

  As a workaround, one can add the "z" flag to force the use of gunzip
  for decompression.  However, the "z" flag should not be necessary and
  is confusing, since tar is obviously quite capable of recognizing the
  format.

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