>>>> tar xvfp SYSTEM.tar.bz2
>>> To extract bzip2 files with tar, you need to add the "j" option.
>> That hasn't been needed for a long time. Tar is able to detect bzip2 and
>> gzip compression and handle it automatically.
>
> That's only true for GNU tar. If you're also dealing with other
> systems where you might not have GNU tar, you might be "surprised"
> to find that "tar xvf file.tgz" doesn't work.
>
> Hence I think, that it is a good idea to keep on using z or j.

Not all of them speak any squish factor, leaving:

  gzip -dc blah.tar.gz | tar xvf -;

(or bzip/bzip2) as the most portable route.

--
Steven Lembark                             85-09 90th St.
Workhorse Computing                      Woodhaven, NY, 11421
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