Question:
I recently downloaded some applet source code, but they are all stored in “.tar” type files. What program do I need to expand them or otherwise make them useful?
Answer:
This isn’t really a Java question, but I’ll answer it because peopleon Windows systems may have a hard time getting at Java classes storedin tar files. The most often used archiving format used on Unix systemsis the TAR format, which stands for Tape ARchive. These files areextracted using the tar command, usually like this: “tar xf “Most of the time, tar files are also compressed, ending in .tar.Z,.tar.gz, or .tgz suffixes. File ending in .tar.Z have been compressedwith the Unix compress command, while those ending .tar.gz or .tgzhave been compressed with the GNU gzip utility. To untar this files, youmust first uncompress them, and then use the tar command, although theGNU tar command will uncompress and untar files for you provided you havethe GNU zip utilities installed. You can obtain Win32 versions of thesecommands from various locations including the following URL which isalso the home of the Windows NT port of Emacs:
ftp://ftp.cs.washington.edu/pub/ntemacs/utilities/i386/
