solana-test-validator error, expects GNU-tar: proposed solution!

[abhijayrajvansh]

Problem

running solana-test-validator on macOS (with apple silicon or arm64) fails with the following error:

Ledger location: test-ledger
Log: test-ledger/validator.log
Error: failed to start validator: Failed to create ledger at test-ledger: io error: Error checking to unpack genesis archive: Archive error: extra entry found: "._genesis.bin" Regular

reason: the GNU tar program is not compatible with the BSD tar program that comes pre-installed.
this is why we're using: gnu tar installation in .travis.yml

- brew install gnu-tar
- PATH="/usr/local/opt/gnu-tar/libexec/gnubin:$PATH"

and here's the problem: this (/usr/local/opt/gnu-tar/libexec/gnubin) executable path is only valid for Intel-based macs (x86_64) and not for macs with apple silicon (arm64) chipset. by default, on apple silicon macs, executables are stored in a different location.

Proposed Solution

less ideal solution:

a local fix: Install the gnu tar program using brew and export its executable path in your .zshrc file.

macOS with apple silicon (arm64):

brew install gnu-tar
# Put this in ~/.zshrc 
export PATH="/opt/homebrew/opt/gnu-tar/libexec/gnubin:$PATH"

intel-based macOS (x86_64):

brew install gnu-tar
# Put this in ~/.zshrc 
export PATH="/usr/local/opt/gnu-tar/libexec/gnubin:$PATH"

Ideal Solution:

We can differentiate between Intel-based and Apple Silicon-based macOS directly in the .travis.yml file and set the PATH accordingly.

[github-actions]

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[Jac0xb]

Thank you for this solution definitely needs to be fixed