You can use alternate methods for creating the archive. The installer can accept the following archive formats:
cpio archives
gzip compressed cpio archives
bzip2 compressed cpio archives
pax archives created with the -x xustar (XUSTAR) format
ufsdump level zero (full) backups
Additionally, the installer can accept a directory of files created by using an archiving utility that saves and restores file permissions, ownership, and links. Thus, an example of a utility that cannot be used is tar, because tar does not handle links.
For more information, see the cpio(1), pax(1), bzip2(1), gzip(1), and ufsdump(1M) man pages.