# Install gnu-tar with Homebrew

GNU version of the tar archiving utility. Version 1.35 via Homebrew; verified from local package data.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:gnu-tar
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install gnu-tar
```

  Evidence: provider-native install command

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:gnu-tar
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 1.35
- **Source summary:** GNU version of the tar archiving utility
- **Homepage:** <https://www.gnu.org/software/tar/>
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T00:40:33+00:00

## Executables

- gtar (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 1.35
## Project history and usage

GNU tar is the GNU archiving program for creating, listing, updating, and extracting tar archives. It is one of the package ecosystem's foundational tools because source releases, backups, and portable file bundles often travel as tar archives.

### Project history

The GNU tar README says GNU tar is derived from John Gilmore's public-domain tar. The GNU tar manual credits John Gilmore as the original author, Jay Fenlason and Joy Kendall for GNU enhancements, and later maintenance by Thomas Bushnell, n/BSG, Francois Pinard, Paul Eggert, and Sergey Poznyakoff with many contributors.

GNU tar development also reflects the long evolution of archive formats and recovery needs. The manual notes that active development and maintenance resumed after the project was put on CVS at Savannah in July 2003, and it credits Sergey Poznyakoff with POSIX archive support.

### Adoption history

tar began as a tape archiver, but GNU tar helped make tar archives a routine interchange format for free software. The GNU manual explicitly notes that the GNU Project distributes software bundled into tar archives so related files can move as a single unit, a practice that made tarballs central to source distribution and package building.

### How it is used

Practitioners use GNU tar to create and extract source tarballs, preserve directory trees, list archive contents, append or update members, stream archives through pipes, and combine archiving with compression tools. System administrators also use GNU tar for full and incremental backups, including snapshot-file workflows with --listed-incremental.

### Why package nerds care

GNU tar is package-nerd bedrock: release artifacts, distro build recipes, reproducible archives, vendor source bundles, and backup scripts all depend on tar behavior. Details such as pax headers, sparse files, compression integration, path handling, and incremental metadata are small options with large consequences for reproducibility and restore safety.

### Timeline

- 1980s: GNU tar grew from John Gilmore's public-domain tar into a GNU-maintained archiver.
- 2003: GNU tar was put on CVS at Savannah and active maintenance resumed.
- 2021: Version 1.34 notes record extraction and permission-handling fixes.
- 2023: Version 1.35 notes include compatibility and backup-related fixes.
- 2026: Git NEWS for 1.35.90 describes reproducibility work, extraction safety fixes, and performance improvements.

### Related projects

- GNU tar is tightly related to gzip, bzip2, xz, cpio, rmt, POSIX pax archives, source-release tooling, and package-manager build systems.

### Sources

- <https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/tar.git/plain/NEWS>
- <https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/tar.git/plain/README>
- <https://www.gnu.org/software/tar/>
- <https://www.gnu.org/software/tar/manual/html_node/Authors.html>
- <https://www.gnu.org/software/tar/manual/html_node/Incremental-Dumps.html>
- <https://www.gnu.org/software/tar/manual/html_node/What-tar-Does.html>


## Security Notes

narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.

- **Geiger risk:** green / low
- narrow executable package without higher-risk signals


## Combined YAML source

View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/gnu-tar.yml](https://github.com/automic-vault/db/blob/main/combined/gnu-tar.yml)


## Sources

- Nucleus package database
- Geiger risk classifier
- curated package history
- pkgdb category and tag curation