GNU tar is 

 Copyright (C) 1988, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

   This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
   it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
   the Free Software Foundation; version 2 dated June, 1991.

On Debian GNU/Linux systems, the complete text of the GNU General Public 
License can be found in the `/usr/doc/copyright' directory.
