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      tarfile    - python module for accessing tar archives

                   Lars Gustbel <lars@gustaebel.de>
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Description
-----------

The tarfile module provides a set of functions for accessing  tar
format archives. Because  it is written  in pure Python,  it does
not  require  any  platform  specific  functions.  Gzip and bzip2
compressed tar archives are seamlessly supported.


Requirements
------------

tarfile needs at least Python version 2.x. It is fully functional
only on Python 2.2, for Python 2.0 and 2.1 you must apply a patch,
see README.python-2.x for details.
For a tarfile for Python 1.5.2 take a look on the webpage.


Download
--------

You can download the newest version at URL:
http://www.gustaebel.de/lars/tarfile/


Installation
------------

1. extract the tarfile-x.x.x.tar.gz archive to a temporary folder
2. type "python setup.py install"


Contact
-------

Suggestions, comments, bug reports and patches to:
lars@gustaebel.de


License
-------

Copyright (C) 2002 Lars Gustbel <lars@gustaebel.de>
All rights reserved.

Permission  is  hereby granted,  free  of charge,  to  any person
obtaining a  copy of  this software  and associated documentation
files  (the  "Software"),  to   deal  in  the  Software   without
restriction,  including  without limitation  the  rights to  use,
copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies  of  the  Software,  and to  permit  persons  to  whom the
Software  is  furnished  to  do  so,  subject  to  the  following
conditions:

The above copyright  notice and this  permission notice shall  be
included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS  IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY  KIND,
EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING  BUT NOT LIMITED TO  THE WARRANTIES
OF  MERCHANTABILITY,  FITNESS   FOR  A  PARTICULAR   PURPOSE  AND
NONINFRINGEMENT.  IN  NO  EVENT SHALL  THE  AUTHORS  OR COPYRIGHT
HOLDERS  BE LIABLE  FOR ANY  CLAIM, DAMAGES  OR OTHER  LIABILITY,
WHETHER  IN AN  ACTION OF  CONTRACT, TORT  OR OTHERWISE,  ARISING
FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR
OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.


README Version
--------------

$Id: README,v 1.17 2003/04/25 19:25:16 lars Exp $



Files
-----

tarfile.py              the tarfile module
_tarfile.c              c extension for special file operations
setup.py                distutils setup for the tarfile module
README                  this README
HISTORY                 the Change Log
TODO                    Known Bugs and things left to do

patch-2.x               patch to make tarfile work with
                        Python 2.0.x and 2.1.x
README.python-2.x       installation instructions for patch-2.x

doc/                    HTML Documentation for the tarfile module

contrib/                Some ready-made helpful tools and examples,
                        most of them contributed by others.

pytar/                  A sample tar program written in Python,
                        based on the tarfile module.

test_tarfile.py         unittest suite
testtar.tar             sample tar archive for unittest

