@vindex TAR_OPTIONS
With GNU tar, you can also set the environment (or @code{Makefile.am})
variable @code{TAR_OPTIONS} to pass options to @code{tar}. One common
-case for this is wanting to avoid using the local user's uid and gid
-in the tar file, or the uid being larger than is supported by the tar
-format (not uncommon nowadays). This can be done with, for example>
+case for using this is to avoid having the local user's uid and gid in
+the tar file, or the uid being larger than is supported by the tar
+format. This can be done with, for example:
+@cindex tar uid/gid setting
+@cindex uid/gid, setting for tar
+@cindex too-large uid/gid for tar
@example
TAR_OPTIONS = --owner=0 --group=0
export TAR_OPTIONS
@noindent
The @code{export} (a GNU make feature) is necessary to pass the
-variable in the environment to the @code{tar} invocation.
-(For more discussion, see @url{https://bugs.gnu.org/19615}.)
+variable in the environment to the @code{tar} invocation. Another
+possible fix is to use the @code{tar-pax} option
+(@pxref{tar-formats}), though this reduces portability.
+(For more discussion, see @url{https://bugs.gnu.org/19615}
+and @url{https://bugs.gnu.org/73316}.)
For the most part, the files to distribute are automatically
found by Automake:
@option{tar-pax} selects the new pax interchange format defined by POSIX
1003.1-2001. It does not limit the length of file names. However,
-this format is very young and should probably be restricted to
-packages that target only very modern platforms.
+this format is relatively young and should probably be restricted to
+packages that target modern platforms.
As of 2018, this format is supported by the native @code{tar} command only
on GNU, FreeBSD, and OpenBSD systems; it is not supported by the native
@code{tar} command on NetBSD, AIX, HP-UX, or Solaris.