#!/bin/sh candidate="$1" tar=`which $candidate` if [ ! -x "$tar" ]; then tar=`which tar` if [ ! -x "$tar" ]; then # echo nothing: no suitable tar found exit 1 fi fi # Output of 'tar --version' examples: # tar (GNU tar) 1.15.1 # tar (GNU tar) 1.25 # bsdtar 2.8.3 - libarchive 2.8.3 version=`$tar --version | head -n 1 | sed 's/^.*\s\([0-9]\+\.\S\+\).*$/\1/'` major=`echo "$version" | cut -d. -f1` minor=`echo "$version" | cut -d. -f2` bugfix=`echo "$version" | cut -d. -f3` version_bsd=`$tar --version | grep 'bsdtar'` # BSD tar does not have all the command-line options if [ -n "${version_bsd}" ] ; then # echo nothing: no suitable tar found exit 1 fi # Minimal version = 1.35 (1.35 changed devmajor/devminor for files) # https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/info-gnu/2023-07/msg00005.html major_min=1 minor_min=35 if [ $major -lt $major_min ]; then # echo nothing: no suitable tar found exit 1 fi if [ $major -eq $major_min -a $minor -lt $minor_min ]; then # echo nothing: no suitable tar found exit 1 fi # valid echo $tar