4. Using bzip2 with tar

Basically, there are two ways to use this, namely

4.1 Easier to set up:

This method requires no setup at all. To un-tar the bzip2'd tar archive, foo.tar.bz in the current directory, do

/path/to/bzip2 -cd foo.tar.bz2 | tar xf -

This works, but can be a PITA to type often.

4.2 Easier to use:

Apply the following patch to gnu tar 1.12, compile it, and install it, and you're good to go. Make sure that both tar and bzip2 are in your $PATH by "which tar" and "which bzip2. To use it, just do

 tar xyf foo.tar.bz2

To make a new archive, it's similar:

 tar cyf foo.tar.bz2 file1 file2 file3...directory1 directory2...

And here's the patch :)

*** tar.c.orig  Sat Apr 26 05:09:49 1997
--- tar.c       Feb  2 00:50:47 1998
***************
*** 16,21 ****
--- 16,24 ----
     with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
     59 Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.  */

+ /* Feb 2 98: patched by David Fetter to use bzip2 as a
+              filter (option -y) */
+
  #include "system.h"

  #include <getopt.h>
***************
*** 196,201 ****
--- 199,206 ----
    {"block-number", no_argument, NULL, 'R'},
    {"block-size", required_argument, NULL, OBSOLETE_BLOCKING_FACTOR},
    {"blocking-factor", required_argument, NULL, 'b'},
+   {"bzip2", required_argument, NULL, 'y'},
+   {"bunzip2", required_argument, NULL, 'y'},
    {"catenate", no_argument, NULL, 'A'},
    {"checkpoint", no_argument, &checkpoint_option, 1},
    {"compare", no_argument, NULL, 'd'},
***************
*** 372,377 ****
--- 377,383 ----
                PATTERN                at list/extract time, a globbing PATTERN\n\
    -o, --old-archive, --portability   write a V7 format archive\n\
        --posix                        write a POSIX conformant archive\n\
+   -y, --bzip2, --bunzip2             filter the archive through bzip2\n\
    -z, --gzip, --ungzip               filter the archive through gzip\n\
    -Z, --compress, --uncompress       filter the archive through compress\n\
        --use-compress-program=PROG    filter through PROG (must accept -d)\n"),
***************
*** 448,454 ****
     Y  per-block gzip compression */

  #define OPTION_STRING \
!   "-01234567ABC:F:GK:L:MN:OPRST:UV:WX:Zb:cdf:g:hiklmoprstuvwxz"

  static void
  set_subcommand_option (enum subcommand subcommand)
--- 454,460 ----
     Y  per-block gzip compression */

  #define OPTION_STRING \
!   "-01234567ABC:F:GK:L:MN:OPRST:UV:WX:Zb:cdf:g:hiklmoprstuvwxyz"

  static void
  set_subcommand_option (enum subcommand subcommand)
***************
*** 805,810 ****
--- 811,820 ----
        case 'X':
        exclude_option = 1;
        add_exclude_file (optarg);
+       break;
+
+       case 'y':
+       set_use_compress_program_option ("bzip2");
        break;

        case 'z':