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Doesn’t POSIX comment more on what programs did vs what they should do? More a manual of backwards compatibility.

Like, why does tar get to be so special that it takes command line flags with or without leading dashes?

tar isn't a POSIX command, and retains its argument format from before the POSIX CLI guidelines were standardized (as does the POSIX ar command). pax, the POSIX-specified (but rarely implemented/used) equivalent of tar does follow the POSIX CLI guidelines.

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