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authorkientzle <kientzle@FreeBSD.org>2007-04-05 05:07:53 +0000
committerkientzle <kientzle@FreeBSD.org>2007-04-05 05:07:53 +0000
commit1026a1bd3a2736bfc476a427ec93683a652173f4 (patch)
tree96dd514b8b6b8fafd82a623826235b8b65bc71b4 /lib/libarchive/libarchive-formats.5
parent3628fe430a2c5afcca82ad0360d4352ec479ed0b (diff)
downloadFreeBSD-src-1026a1bd3a2736bfc476a427ec93683a652173f4.zip
FreeBSD-src-1026a1bd3a2736bfc476a427ec93683a652173f4.tar.gz
Wordsmithing.
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@@ -236,20 +236,17 @@ compressed with the
algorithm.
Older zip compression algorithms are not supported.
.Ss Archive (library) file format
-The Unix archives (commonly created by the
+The Unix archive format (commonly created by the
.Xr ar 1
-archiver) are mainly used as libraries of object files intended to
-be loaded using the link-editor
+archiver) is a general-purpose format which is
+used almost exclusively for object files to be
+read by the link editor
.Xr ld 1 .
-Altough it is capable of creating archives for any purpose,
-nowadays it is used only to create static libraries and
-for other purpose,
-.Xr tar 1
-is the prefered way. The ar format has never been standardised,
-currently there exist two commonly used format, one is
-the GNU variant derived from SVR4, the other is the
-BSD format first appeared in 4.4BSD.
-Libarchive provides read and write support for both two variants.
+The ar format has never been standardised.
+There are two common variants:
+the GNU format derived from SVR4,
+and the BSD format, which first appeared in 4.4BSD.
+Libarchive provides read and write support for both variants.
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr ar 1 ,
.Xr cpio 1 ,
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