From: Daniel Weise <daniel@dolores.stanford.edu>
To: UNIX-HATERS
Date: Thu, 1 July 1993 09:10:50-0700
Subject: tarred and feathered

So, after several attempts, I finally manage to get this 3.3MB file
ftp'd trhough a flaky link from Europe. Time to untar it.

I type:

   % tar -cf thesis.tar

...and get no response.

Whoops.

Is that a "c" rather than an "x"?
Yes.

Did tar give an error message because no files were specified?
No.

Did tar even notice a problem?
No.

Did tar really tar up no files at all?
Yes.

Did tar overwrite the tar file with garbage?
Of course, this is Unix.

Do I need to waste another 30 minutes retrieving the file from
Europe?
Of course, this is Unix.

   -- The UNIX-HATERS Handbook
      http://www.simson.net/ref/ugh.pdf