On the one hand I have a lot of tar files created with gnu format, and on the other hand I have a tool that only supports pax (aka posix) format. I am looking for an easy way to convert the existing tar files to pax format – without extracting them to the file system and re-create the archives.
GNU tar supports both formats. However, I haven't found an easy way to the conversion.
How can I convert the existing gnu tar files to pax?
[I asked the same question on superuser.com, and a commenter recommended to migrate the question to unix.stackexchange.com.]
Best Answer
You can do this using bsdtar:
@archive
is the magic option. From the manpage: