Thanks. I found this item on the Haskell website:
http://www.haskell.org/pipermail/hugs-bugs/2002-November/001045.html
Looks like Solaris (<= 8) tar has a pathname limit of 80 characters. Should we try and squeeze the Python directory tree into that limit or simply tell people to use GNU tar if their tar barfs?
Skip
... provide a "macless" tarball for problem systems, and enforce an 80 char limit on it?
is this a traditional tar or Solaris tar limitation? It's not clear, having RTFA'd. It sounds like the 80-char limit is Solaris, and the 100-char limit is traditional?
The 80 is a misreading of that Haskell message. There is only a 100 char limit. (The message just explains that the shortest name remaining is 80, which is less than 100.) --Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)