python / python/cpython

tarfile: Extracting symlink using extractfile results in Keyerror: linkname not found

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stdlib type-bug
Dominant language
Python
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Description

Bug report

Bug description:

I have the following tar archive containing some files and a symlink to a file that is not part of the tar archive.

drwxr-xr-x guif/users        0 2024-08-06 15:51 test/
-rw-r--r-- guif/users        0 2024-08-06 15:50 test/file3
lrwxrwxrwx guif/users        0 2024-08-06 15:51 test/mylink -> /usr/bin/env
-rw-r--r-- guif/users        0 2024-08-06 15:50 test/file1
-rw-r--r-- guif/users        0 2024-08-06 15:50 test/file2

I want to extract the symlink. With the getmember method I receive a valid member of the tar archive.
Using this member in the extractfile however results in an error.

#!/usr/bin/env python

import tarfile


def main():
    with tarfile.open('./test.tar') as tar_file:
        member = tar_file.getmember('test/mylink')
        file_content = tar_file.extractfile(member)


if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/guif/repos/private/tmp/./main.py", line 13, in <module>
    main()
  File "/home/guif/repos/private/tmp/./main.py", line 9, in main
    file_content = tar_file.extractfile(member)
                   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/nix/store/l014xp1qxdl6gim3zc0jv3mpxhbp346s-python3-3.12.4/lib/python3.12/tarfile.py", line 2385, in extractfile
    return self.extractfile(self._find_link_target(tarinfo))
                            ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/nix/store/l014xp1qxdl6gim3zc0jv3mpxhbp346s-python3-3.12.4/lib/python3.12/tarfile.py", line 2725, in _find_link_target
    raise KeyError("linkname %r not found" % linkname)
KeyError: "linkname 'test//usr/bin/env' not found"

As you can see 'test//usr/bin/env can not be found.
The path does not look like the symlink I try to extract but more like <symlink name>/<link target>

From the doc:

Extract a member from the archive as a file object. `member' may be
a filename or a TarInfo object. If `member' is a regular file or
a link, an io.BufferedReader object is returned. For all other
existing members, None is returned. If `member' does not appear
in the archive, KeyError is raised.
CPython versions tested on:

3.10, 3.12

Operating systems tested on:

Linux

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Read tarfile.py around extractfile() and _find_link_target(), then run the provided archive and script to reproduce the KeyError. Compare the documented behavior for links with this external-target case and add regression coverage that makes the intended result explicit.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
python
Domain
tooling
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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