i downloaded the latest version of lshw from ezix.org to
~/home/hodgson

so, when i type <ls -al | less>, i get a list which includes the line:

-rw-r--r-- 1 hodgson hodgson 1165673 2007-09-11 01:26 lshw-B.02.11.01.tar.gz

BUT when i type <ls -al lshw* | less>, i get a huge list of files and
directories: here's a few lines from the list:

drwxr-xr-x 0/0 0 2007-08-05 16:12 lshw-B.02.11.01/
drwxr-xr-x 0/0 0 2007-08-05 16:12 lshw-B.02.11.01/docs/
-rw-r--r-- 0/0 491 2007-08-05 16:11 lshw-B.02.11.01/docs/TODO
-rw-r--r-- 0/0 6287 2007-08-05 16:11 lshw-B.02.11.01/docs/Changelog
-rw-r--r-- 0/0 3063 2007-08-05 16:11 lshw-B.02.11.01/docs/IODC.txt
-rw-r--r-- 0/0 10107 2007-08-05 16:11 lshw-B.02.11.01/docs/proc_usb_info.txt
-rw-r--r-- 0/0 2928 2007-08-05 16:11 lshw-B.02.11.01/docs/lshw.xsd
-rw-r--r-- 0/0 111 2007-08-05 16:11 lshw-B.02.11.01/Makefile
-rw-r--r-- 0/0 2965 2007-08-05 16:12 lshw-B.02.11.01/lshw.spec
-rw-r--r-- 0/0 2008 2007-08-05 16:11 lshw-B.02.11.01/README

does that mean ls can read inside a tar.gz file?

No. It means that you've probably already detarred the file.

my guess would be that you had previously extracted the tarball. Notice that the paths are "lshw-B.02.11.01/" not "lshw-B.02.11.01.tar.gz/". A tarball extracts to a folder with the same name, minus the .tar.gz

your helpful tutorial on source install says:

Code:
$ tar xvf gaim-0.59.8.tar.gz
This should extract the files into a new directory usually named the same as the file without the tar.gz at the end.

BUT there is no such directory on my box:
hodgson@hodgson-desktop:~$ ls -d */
desk/ Desktop/ Examples/ f/ Mail/ mem/ News/ tmp/

nor was my <ls -al lshw* | command> issued in any other but my home dir.

sorry; i just realized that the original <ls -al lshw* | less> DID show the directories
drwxr-xr-x 0/0 0 2007-08-05 16:12 lshw-B.02.11.01/
drwxr-xr-x 0/0 0 2007-08-05 16:12 lshw-B.02.11.01/docs/

but then what are these peculiar items on the list?

-rw-r--r-- 0/0 491 2007-08-05 16:11 lshw-B.02.11.01/docs/TODO
-rw-r--r-- 0/0 6287 2007-08-05 16:11 lshw-B.02.11.01/docs/Changelog
-rw-r--r-- 0/0 3063 2007-08-05 16:11 lshw-B.02.11.01/docs/IODC.txt
...

why the "subdirectories" and the weird permissions?

Weird permissions??! I can't see nothing strange in permissions here. The files you are listing are normal text files, read them and you will find out. The TODO and Changelog documents are usual inside a source tarball.

sorry, i meant ownership: 0/0, NOT permissions, which i see are normal;

i never saw the ls listing for a file which included a path beyond the directory itself:

-rw-r--r-- 0/0 6287 2007-08-05 16:11 lshw-B.02.11.01/docs/Changelog

or is it possible to give a file a name with '/' slashes in it?

Uh... sorry, I should have notice that. It does not resemble an output from ls, instead an archive content listing, e.g.
where 0/0 are the uid/gid of the user/group who created the archive (most likely root/root). If you get this output by issuing a ls command, that is really weird! Anyway you can check if and how ls is aliased:

is 0/0 necessarily weird? If root owned the tarball, then root expanded it, they would come out that way, no? This could have happened if he built something, su'ed to 'make install', forgot he was root and extracted the next tarball.

The subdirectories are shown because of the way you have invoked ls.
will get expanded by the shell to
The first of these is the directory. If you invoke ls with a dir as an argument it will list the contents of the dir as you would expect. You would need "-d" to display the directory entry as a file an not its contents.

is 0/0 necessarily weird? If root owned the tarball, then root expanded it, they would come out that way, no?

thanks patrick; trouble is, here's how the tarball showed up when i typed
<ls -al | less>:

-rw-r--r-- 1 hodgson hodgson 1165673 2007-09-11 01:26 lshw-B.02.11.01.tar.gz;

besides, i never did intentionally extract the tarball [although i guess that's beside the point];

The subdirectories are shown because of the way you have invoked ls.
Code:
ls lshw*
will get expanded by the shell to
Code:
ls lshw-B.02.11.01 lshw-B.02.11.01.tar.gz
The first of these is the directory. If you invoke ls with a dir as an argument it will list the contents of the dir as you would expect.

thanks, vraigh; a subtle and unexpected behavior of ls; and that must be what happened; but that leaves me with another "ls" anomaly; you wrote "You would need "-d" to display the directory entry as a file an not its contents."

on my ubuntu-feisty box:

Code:
hodgson@hodgson-desktop:~$ ls -d
.
hodgson@hodgson-desktop:~$ alias ls
alias ls='ls --color=auto'

i can get results with:

Code:
hodgson@hodgson-desktop:~$ ls -d */
desk/ Desktop/ Examples/ f/ Mail/ mem/ News/ tmp/
hodgson@hodgson-desktop:~$ ls -dl */
drwxr-xr-x 2 hodgson hodgson 12288 2007-09-21 00:44 desk/
drwxr-xr-x 3 hodgson hodgson 4096 2007-09-02 12:52 Desktop/
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2007-04-15 06:52 Examples/
drwxr-xr-x 3 hodgson hodgson 4096 2007-07-09 05:06 f/
drwxr-xr-x 5 hodgson hodgson 4096 2007-09-21 23:02 Mail/
drwxr-xr-x 2 hodgson hodgson 16384 2007-09-18 05:13 mem/
drwxr-xr-x 4 hodgson hodgson 4096 2007-07-10 00:55 News/
drwxr-xr-x 2 hodgson hodgson 4096 2007-09-21 14:27 tmp/

but, as you see, those elusive directories extracted [magically] from the tarball, fail to show up this way; it still looks as if ls can, under certain circumstances, peer into a tarball, although i know that's probably not the case;

This is also expected behaviour. From the ls man page:
So listing details for the current directory but not its contents can only return "."

Without seeing exactly what is in your directories it is hard to say. Does it still show up with your original ls command? My first thought is that the extracted directory isn't there any more!

Vrajgh [either he is clairvoyant or he has hacked in to my computer] writes:

My first thought is that the extracted directory isn't there any more!
--------------

Vraijh; you are right again;

hodgson@hodgson-desktop:~$ ls -dl */ lshw*
drwxr-xr-x 2 hodgson hodgson 12288 2007-09-21 00:44 desk/
drwxr-xr-x 3 hodgson hodgson 4096 2007-09-02 12:52 Desktop/
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2007-04-15 06:52 Examples/
drwxr-xr-x 3 hodgson hodgson 4096 2007-07-09 05:06 f/
-rw-r--r-- 1 hodgson hodgson 1165673 2007-09-11 01:26 lshw-B.02.11.01.tar.gz
drwxr-xr-x 5 hodgson hodgson 4096 2007-09-23 14:11 Mail/
drwxr-xr-x 2 hodgson hodgson 16384 2007-09-18 05:13 mem/
drwxr-xr-x 4 hodgson hodgson 4096 2007-07-10 00:55 News/
drwxr-xr-x 2 hodgson hodgson 4096 2007-09-21 14:27 tmp/
hodgson@hodgson-desktop:~$ ls -al lshw*
-rw-r--r-- 1 hodgson hodgson 1165673 2007-09-11 01:26 lshw-B.02.11.01.tar.gz

which means that both the appearance of the extracted directories and their contents [documented in my first post to this thread] and their subsequent disappearance was the result of some anomalous behavior [mine, i guess];

i'll just have to stop doing all those mushrooms;

thanks again, y'all, for your trouble and patient instruction;