Michael Wiktowy <mwiktowy@xxxxxxx> wrote: > Usually sensible defaults are the best way to go and if 99% of the time, > you want your tar to "condense" sparse files, then it is likely best to > make it do that by default. My guess, offhand, is that the sparse file support is a non-standard addition to the tar format. I'm not sure how many people are still using non-GNU tar implementations, but it still makes sense to be very conservative in what you create. jon