If [zip] *is*
portable, it might seem a better choice for archives
over tar, [...]
"Portable" is in the eye of the beholder. Both formats
don't support
sizes over 4 gigabytes (unsigned 32-bit dword) so I don't use them
any more.
The tar limit is actually 077777777777, which is 8 gig. (That's not to
say that any particular *implementation* doesn't have a 4-gig limit,
only that the *format* limit is higher.)
You raise a good point. I'll have to add support to my tar for file
sizes over 8G.
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