How does tar specify multiple archive targets or spread large archives across different media?

The option used by the tar command to spread large archives across different media is the -m flag, which instructs tar to create a multi-volume archive. When creating a multi-volume archive, tar will prompt the user when the current media is full and request a new media to be inserted, allowing the archiving process to continue seamlessly. This is particularly useful for backing up large directories or file systems that exceed the size of a single volume.

The other options do not serve this function. The -s flag is typically used for specifying a substitution pattern, -a indicates automatic compression based on the file extension, and -p preserves the permissions of files when creating the archive. Understanding the specific role of these flags in tar helps in effectively managing file archives in Linux.