feat(shell): add gnutar so GNU-tar install scripts work#61
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The shell image only shipped busybox tar, which aborts on the empty-string
argument that common `curl | bash` installers pass to tar. Railway's
install.sh, for example, runs `tar "${flags}" -xzf ...` where `flags` comes
from `flags=$(test -n)` and is always empty — so it executes `tar "" -xzf`.
GNU tar ignores the empty arg; busybox tar treats it as a missing archive
member and fails with `tar: : not found in archive`.
Adding `gnutar` provides `/usr/bin/tar` as GNU tar (shadowing the busybox
applet), unblocking those installers.
Verified on linux/amd64: `wolfi-base` + `posix-libc-utils` + `gnutar` runs
`curl -fsSL https://railway.com/install.sh | bash` to completion
(`railway 5.20.0`), whereas with busybox tar it failed at extraction.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
ggrosseveurgg
approved these changes
Jun 24, 2026
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What
Add the
gnutarpackage to theshellimage, providing/usr/bin/taras GNU tar (shadowing the busyboxtarapplet).Why
The image only shipped busybox tar. Many
curl | bashinstallers pass an empty-string argument to tar that GNU tar tolerates but busybox does not. Concretely, Railway's official installer (railway.com/install.sh) runs:With busybox tar that fails at extraction:
This is the second blocker (after #60 added
getconf) preventing theshellimage from running the public Railway installer in CI.Verification (linux/amd64)
Replicating the post-merge image (
posix-libc-utils+gnutar) inwolfi-base:Before (busybox tar):
tar: : not found in archive.🤖 Generated with Claude Code