All test performed on tmpfs, /tmp/a mounted on /tmp/b. The used test archive is https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v3.0/linux-3.0.tar.gz . UNTAR: tar xfz ../linux-3.0.tar.gz LS: ls -lR linux-3.0 > /dev/null RM: rm -Rf linux-3.0 VERSION UNTAR LS RM v0.4 48 1.5 5 v0.5-rc1 56 7 19 v0.5-rc1-1 54 4.1 9 v0.5-rc1-2 45 1.7 3.4 v0.6 47 1.8 4.3