[Whonix-devel] reproducible-builds.org/docs/archives/ tar command

Fri Jan 20 13:36:00 CET 2017

Patrick Schleizer:
> From https://reproducible-builds.org/docs/archives/
> 
> that mtime command '--mtime=2015-10-21 00:00Z' does not work for me.
> 
> + find . -not -iwholename '*.git*' -print0
> + tar --null --no-recursion --create --verbose --owner=root --group=root
> --numeric-owner --mode=go=rX,u+rw,a-s --sort=name '--mtime=2015-10-21
> 00:00Z' --xz
> --file=/home/user/whonix_dot/Whonix/packages/corridor_0.11.5.orig.tar.xz
> -T -
> 
> tar: Option --mtime: Treating date '2015-10-21 00:00Z' as 2015-10-21
> 02:00:00
> 
> tar --version
> tar (GNU tar) 1.29
> 
> Adding 'export TZ=UTC' beforehand however works for me.
> 
> tar: Option --mtime: Treating date '2015-10-21 00:00Z' as 2015-10-21
> 00:00:00
> 

Hey Patrick, actually it is correct. The output is a bit confusing, it displays the time in the local timezone. But only the epoch timestamp is stored in the resulting file.

If you run "TZ=UTC tar tvvf" on the output, you should see the timestamps in UTC timezone and they should be the same regardless of what TZ you ran the tar command with.

It could be good to clarify this on our webpage, however.

X

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