[Bug-tar] unrecognized option --remove-files?

[Jeff Saretsky]

Hi,

I'm experiencing a problem with tar (GNU tar) 1.15.1.  Using "normal"
syntax, tar refused to accept --remove-files as an option, instead
interpreting it as a name.  I played around with the syntax until there
could be no ambiguity, here is the script context and the command I'm
issuing now:

cd ${TARGET}
TAROPTS="--remove-files --wildcards --wildcards-match-slash --exclude
./pkg*"
TARFILE="filename.tar.bz2"
tar --create --bzip2 --preserve-permissions "${TAROPTS}"
--file="${TARGET}/${TARFILE}" ./*

And this is the output from the script:

tar: unrecognized option `--remove-files --wildcards
--wildcards-match-slash --exclude ./pkg*'

Is this a bug, or am I being stupid?

Also, nowhere in the info pages does it say whether --wildcards and
--wildcards-match-slash are defaults, or if their converses are
defaults.  Could this be clarified?

Thanks,

Jeff