为何tar -c命令从成员名称中删除前导`/'

Question

Looking to find the practical reasons the command tar -c /filea > /fileb gives the following output: tar:Removing_leading / from member names.

I have researched it quite a bit but only come across very vague reasons such as protects against some sort of attack etc. The majority just give explanations on a workaround should you want it.

I do not want a workaround. I am simply curious as to the actual practical reasons for it happening. Any help would be appreciated.

Answer 1

This helps avoid mistakes which could cause important files to be overwritten. Files are normally extracted relative to the current working directory of the tar command.

Just Example:

If you archive /etc/httpd this directory it removes leading /. Because. If it exists after extract current /etc/httpd will overwrite with archive /etc/httpd.

After removing the leading '/' it extract on your working directory. If you extract on /var/tmp directory it will kept as /var/tmp/etc/httpd