Be careful of Solaris' tar command!

When creating a tar file in Solaris, NEVER use a leading slash in the target:

tar cvf mytarfile.tar /etc

...because when you untar it on your destination, regardless of the present directory, it will overwrite everything in /etc! What a way to spoil your day. Always, always use relative path targets for Solaris' tar.

cd /etc
tar cvf mytarfile.tar .

Get in the habit of always displaying the tar file's contents first:

tar tvf mytarfile.tar

...and never unpack it if it begins with a slash!

If you have such a tar file, what do you do now?

/usr/bin/cp /usr/sbin/static/tar /tmp
/usr/bin/dd if=file.tar | /usr/bin/chroot /tmp ./tar xf -

...and your output will be safely unpacked in /tmp. Yes, you have to be that anal about it.

Fortunately, this is not a problem with GNU tar in Linux and other OS's; the path is always relative. But you could still muck up things if you are in / when you unpack!

Be careful out there.