archiving (ubuntu tar) hidden directories

Question

tar on a directory mydir will archive hidden files and hidden subdirectories, but tar from within mydir with a * wildcard will no

Answer 1

The shell expands the wildcards so tar doesn't even see it. You have to add them explicitly if you want to do that. (.*). However, it's most common to tar a single directory so that when you untar it all goes to the same place.