python / python/cpython

Align with GNU Tar when a file name is too long

Open
#130,819 7 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

Nobody has claimed this yet.

stdlib type-feature
Dominant language
Python
Stars
77.2k
Forks
35.9k
PR merge metrics
PR metrics pending

Description

Bug report

Bug description:

Recently I found tarfile may generate a file slightly different with the one made by GNU Tar (https://www.gnu.org/software/tar/), especially when a path name is longer than 100 bytes.

Here's the test code:

# py-tar.py
import tarfile, io
memory_file = io.BytesIO()
tar_obj = tarfile.open(name=None, mode="w", fileobj=memory_file, format=tarfile.GNU_FORMAT)
tar_info = tarfile.TarInfo("abcdef" * 20)
tar_info.type = tarfile.DIRTYPE
tar_info.mode = 0o755
tar_info.mtime = 1609459200  # UTC 2021-01-01
tar_info.uid = 1000
tar_info.gid = 1000
tar_info.uname = "ubuntu"
tar_info.gname = "ubuntu"
tar_obj.addfile(tar_info, None)
tar_obj.close()
memory_file.seek(0)
binary_data = memory_file.read()
# import binascii
# hex_data = binascii.hexlify(binary_data)
# sep = 16
# for i in range(0, len(hex_data), sep * 2):
#     part = hex_data[i:i + sep * 2]
#     print(*(part[i:i+2].decode() for i in range(0, len(part), 2)), binary_data[i//2:][:sep], sep=" ")
with open("py.tar", "wb") as fp:
    fp.write(binary_data)
mkdir -m 755 abcdefabcdefabcdefabcdefabcdefabcdefabcdefabcdefabcdefabcdefabcdefabcdefabcdefabcdefabcdefabcdefabcdefabcdefabcdefabcdef
tar cf gnu.tar --sort=name --owner=ubuntu:1000 --group=ubuntu:1000 --mtime='UTC 2021-01-01' abcdefabcdefabcdefabcdefabcdefabcdefabcdefabcdefabcdefabcdefabcdefabcdefabcdefabcdefabcdefabcdefabcdefabcdefabcdefabcdef/
python ./py-tar.py

As a result, when comparing the generated py.tar and gnu.tar, we may get such a difference:

Image

So I wonder will python might align such a detail on tarfile.GNU_FORMAT with the one of GNU tar?

BTW, here's my environment (I'm on Ubuntu 24.04), and I find the main branch of CPython has a similar Lib/tarfile.py and should have a same behavior difference:

$ LANG=C tar --version
tar (GNU tar) 1.35
Copyright (C) 2023 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

Written by John Gilmore and Jay Fenlason.
$ LANG=C python --version
Python 3.12.3
CPython versions tested on:

3.12

Operating systems tested on:

Linux

Linked PRs
  • gh-130820

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

Review linked PR gh-130820 first, then reproduce the difference with the supplied Python script and GNU Tar commands. Inspect Lib/tarfile.py to trace GNU_FORMAT handling for names longer than 100 bytes. Done means the generated archive matches GNU Tar for this case, with regression coverage added where appropriate.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
python
Domain
tooling
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
25/100

Get new issues in your inbox

A short digest of beginner-friendly GitHub issues.