diff mbox series

[v2,1/1] mke2fs: the -d option can now handle tarball input

Message ID 20230812150204.462962-2-josch@mister-muffin.de
State New
Headers show
Series mke2fs: the -d option can now handle tarball input | expand

Commit Message

Johannes Schauer Marin Rodrigues Aug. 12, 2023, 3:02 p.m. UTC
If archive.h is available during compilation, enable mke2fs to read a
tarball as input. Since libarchive.so.13 is opened with dlopen,
libarchive is not a hard library dependency of the resulting binary.

This enables the creation of filesystems containing files which would
otherwise need superuser privileges to create (like device nodes, which
are also not allowed in unshared user namespaces). By reading from
standard input when the filename is a dash (-), mke2fs can be used as
part of a shell pipeline without temporary files.

A round-trip from tarball to ext4 to tarball yields bit-by-bit identical
results.

Signed-off-by: Johannes Schauer Marin Rodrigues <josch@mister-muffin.de>
---
 MCONFIG.in                     |   1 +
 configure                      | 134 ++++---
 configure.ac                   |   9 +
 debugfs/Makefile.in            |  25 +-
 lib/config.h.in                |   3 +
 lib/ext2fs/Makefile.in         |  25 +-
 misc/Makefile.in               |  17 +-
 misc/create_inode.c            |  61 ++-
 misc/create_inode.h            |  10 +
 misc/create_inode_libarchive.c | 677 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 misc/create_inode_libarchive.h |  10 +
 misc/mke2fs.8.in               |  10 +-
 misc/mke2fs.c                  |  12 +-
 tests/m_rootgnutar/expect      | 141 +++++++
 tests/m_rootgnutar/output.sed  |   5 +
 tests/m_rootgnutar/script      | 123 ++++++
 tests/m_rootpaxtar/expect      |  87 +++++
 tests/m_rootpaxtar/mkpaxtar.pl |  69 ++++
 tests/m_rootpaxtar/output.sed  |   5 +
 tests/m_rootpaxtar/script      |  44 +++
 tests/m_roottar/expect         | 208 ++++++++++
 tests/m_roottar/mktar.pl       |  62 +++
 tests/m_roottar/output.sed     |   5 +
 tests/m_roottar/script         |  57 +++
 24 files changed, 1714 insertions(+), 86 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 misc/create_inode_libarchive.c
 create mode 100644 misc/create_inode_libarchive.h
 create mode 100644 tests/m_rootgnutar/expect
 create mode 100644 tests/m_rootgnutar/output.sed
 create mode 100644 tests/m_rootgnutar/script
 create mode 100644 tests/m_rootpaxtar/expect
 create mode 100644 tests/m_rootpaxtar/mkpaxtar.pl
 create mode 100644 tests/m_rootpaxtar/output.sed
 create mode 100644 tests/m_rootpaxtar/script
 create mode 100644 tests/m_roottar/expect
 create mode 100644 tests/m_roottar/mktar.pl
 create mode 100644 tests/m_roottar/output.sed
 create mode 100644 tests/m_roottar/script

Comments

Andreas Dilger Aug. 15, 2023, 4:52 a.m. UTC | #1
On Aug 12, 2023, at 9:02 AM, Johannes Schauer Marin Rodrigues <josch@mister-muffin.de> wrote:
> 
> If archive.h is available during compilation, enable mke2fs to read a
> tarball as input. Since libarchive.so.13 is opened with dlopen,
> libarchive is not a hard library dependency of the resulting binary.
> 
> This enables the creation of filesystems containing files which would
> otherwise need superuser privileges to create (like device nodes, which
> are also not allowed in unshared user namespaces). By reading from
> standard input when the filename is a dash (-), mke2fs can be used as
> part of a shell pipeline without temporary files.
> 
> A round-trip from tarball to ext4 to tarball yields bit-by-bit identical
> results.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Johannes Schauer Marin Rodrigues <josch@mister-muffin.de>

Hi Johannes,
thanks for the updated patch.  Review comments inline.

I think this looks useful, and the code is now isolated enough that it
could be easily managed in the future.  It is looking in reasonable shape,
but could use another round of updates to make the patch a bit cleaner.

The big question is whether Ted will accept it.

Cheers, Andreas


> diff --git a/MCONFIG.in b/MCONFIG.in
> index 82c75a28..cb3ec759 100644
> --- a/MCONFIG.in
> +++ b/MCONFIG.in
> @@ -141,6 +141,7 @@ LIBFUSE = @FUSE_LIB@
> LIBSUPPORT = $(LIBINTL) $(LIB)/libsupport@STATIC_LIB_EXT@
> LIBBLKID = @LIBBLKID@ @PRIVATE_LIBS_CMT@ $(LIBUUID)
> LIBINTL = @LIBINTL@
> +LIBARCHIVE = @ARCHIVE_LIB@
> SYSLIBS = @LIBS@ @PTHREAD_LIBS@
> DEPLIBSS = $(LIB)/libss@LIB_EXT@
> DEPLIBCOM_ERR = $(LIB)/libcom_err@LIB_EXT@
> diff --git a/configure b/configure
> index 72c39b4d..27b97c3b 100755
> --- a/configure
> +++ b/configure
> @@ -704,6 +704,7 @@ SEM_INIT_LIB
> FUSE_CMT
> FUSE_LIB
> CLOCK_GETTIME_LIB
> +ARCHIVE_LIB
> MAGIC_LIB
> SOCKET_LIB
> SIZEOF_TIME_T

I think this part of the configure change is correct, to add ARCHIVE_LIB.

> @@ -8678,7 +8679,7 @@ else $as_nop
>       *-*-aix*)
>         cat confdefs.h - <<_ACEOF >conftest.$ac_ext
> /* end confdefs.h.  */
> -#if defined __powerpc64__ || defined __LP64__
> +#if defined __powerpc64__ || defined _ARCH_PPC64
>                 int ok;
>                #else
>                 error fail
> @@ -8969,7 +8970,7 @@ rm -f core conftest.err conftest.$ac_objext conftest.beam conftest.$ac_ext
>            # be generating 64-bit code.
>            cat confdefs.h - <<_ACEOF >conftest.$ac_ext
> /* end confdefs.h.  */
> -#if defined __powerpc64__ || defined __LP64__
> +#if defined __powerpc64__ || defined _ARCH_PPC64
>                    int ok;
>                   #else
>                    error fail

These parts of the change is specific to your system and should probably
be removed from the patch.

[snip some similar random changes]

> @@ -13539,6 +13522,57 @@ if test "$ac_cv_func_dlopen" = yes ; then
>    MAGIC_LIB=$DLOPEN_LIB
> fi
> 
> +{ printf "%s\n" "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: checking for archive_read_new in -larchive" >&5
> +printf %s "checking for archive_read_new in -larchive... " >&6; }
> +if test ${ac_cv_lib_archive_archive_read_new+y}
> +then :
> +  printf %s "(cached) " >&6
> +else $as_nop
> +  ac_check_lib_save_LIBS=$LIBS
> +LIBS="-larchive  $LIBS"
> +cat confdefs.h - <<_ACEOF >conftest.$ac_ext
> +/* end confdefs.h.  */
> +
> +/* Override any GCC internal prototype to avoid an error.
> +   Use char because int might match the return type of a GCC
> +   builtin and then its argument prototype would still apply.  */
> +char archive_read_new ();
> +int
> +main (void)
> +{
> +return archive_read_new ();
> +  ;
> +  return 0;
> +}
> +_ACEOF
> +if ac_fn_c_try_link "$LINENO"
> +then :
> +  ac_cv_lib_archive_archive_read_new=yes
> +else $as_nop
> +  ac_cv_lib_archive_archive_read_new=no
> +fi
> +rm -f core conftest.err conftest.$ac_objext conftest.beam \
> +    conftest$ac_exeext conftest.$ac_ext
> +LIBS=$ac_check_lib_save_LIBS
> +fi
> +{ printf "%s\n" "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: result: $ac_cv_lib_archive_archive_read_new" >&5
> +printf "%s\n" "$ac_cv_lib_archive_archive_read_new" >&6; }
> +if test "x$ac_cv_lib_archive_archive_read_new" = xyes
> +then :
> +  ARCHIVE_LIB=-larchive
> +ac_fn_c_check_header_compile "$LINENO" "archive.h" "ac_cv_header_archive_h" "$ac_includes_default"
> +if test "x$ac_cv_header_archive_h" = xyes
> +then :
> +  printf "%s\n" "#define HAVE_ARCHIVE_H 1" >>confdefs.h
> +
> +fi
> +
> +fi
> +
> +if test "$ac_cv_func_dlopen" = yes ; then
> +   ARCHIVE_LIB=$DLOPEN_LIB
> +fi
> +
> { printf "%s\n" "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: checking for clock_gettime in -lrt" >&5
> printf %s "checking for clock_gettime in -lrt... " >&6; }
> if test ${ac_cv_lib_rt_clock_gettime+y}

This is the part specific to the ARCHIVE_LIB check, which is fine.

> @@ -14803,11 +14837,11 @@ if test x$ac_prog_cxx_stdcxx = xno
> then :
>   { printf "%s\n" "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: checking for $CXX option to enable C++11 features" >&5
> printf %s "checking for $CXX option to enable C++11 features... " >&6; }
> -if test ${ac_cv_prog_cxx_11+y}
> +if test ${ac_cv_prog_cxx_cxx11+y}
> then :
>   printf %s "(cached) " >&6
> else $as_nop
> -  ac_cv_prog_cxx_11=no
> +  ac_cv_prog_cxx_cxx11=no
> ac_save_CXX=$CXX
> cat confdefs.h - <<_ACEOF >conftest.$ac_ext
> /* end confdefs.h.  */
> @@ -14849,11 +14883,11 @@ if test x$ac_prog_cxx_stdcxx = xno
> then :
>   { printf "%s\n" "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: checking for $CXX option to enable C++98 features" >&5
> printf %s "checking for $CXX option to enable C++98 features... " >&6; }
> -if test ${ac_cv_prog_cxx_98+y}
> +if test ${ac_cv_prog_cxx_cxx98+y}
> then :
>   printf %s "(cached) " >&6
> else $as_nop
> -  ac_cv_prog_cxx_98=no
> +  ac_cv_prog_cxx_cxx98=no
> ac_save_CXX=$CXX
> cat confdefs.h - <<_ACEOF >conftest.$ac_ext
> /* end confdefs.h.  */
> @@ -15193,7 +15227,7 @@ fi
> 
> 
> if test $pkg_failed = yes; then
> -   	{ printf "%s\n" "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: result: no" >&5
> +        { printf "%s\n" "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: result: no" >&5
> printf "%s\n" "no" >&6; }
> 
> if $PKG_CONFIG --atleast-pkgconfig-version 0.20; then

These are again specific to your system or configure version and should
be removed from the patch.

[snip similar random changes and boilerplate Makefile changes]

> diff --git a/misc/create_inode.c b/misc/create_inode.c
> index a3a34cd9..6382f17e 100644
> --- a/misc/create_inode.c
> +++ b/misc/create_inode.c
> @@ -1069,14 +1067,49 @@ errcode_t populate_fs2(ext2_filsys fs, ext2_ino_t parent_ino,
> 	file_info.path_max_len = 255;
> 	file_info.path = calloc(file_info.path_max_len, 1);
> 
> -	retval = set_inode_xattr(fs, root, source_dir);
> +	/* interpret input as tarball either if it's "-" (stdin) or if it's
> +	 * a regular file (or a symlink pointing to a regular file)
> +	 */
> +	if (strcmp(source, "-") == 0) {
> +#ifdef HAVE_ARCHIVE_H
> +		retval = __populate_fs_from_tar(fs, parent_ino, NULL, root, &hdlinks,
> +					   &file_info, fs_callbacks);
> +#else
> +		com_err(__func__, 0,
> +			_("you need to compile e2fsprogs with libarchive to "
> +			  "be able to process tarballs"));
> +		retval = 1;
> +#endif

Rather than having an inline #ifdef here, this could be structured like
the following in create_file_libarchive.c:

#ifdef HAVE_ARCHIVE_H
errcode_t __populate_fs_from_tar(...)
{
	:
	[ proper implementation ]
}
#else
errcode_t __populate_fs_from_tar(...)
{
	com_err(__func__, 0, _("you need to compile ..."));

	return 1;
}
#endif

and then the code here only calls:

		retval = __populate_fs_from_tar(fs, ...);

and the code is not complicated depending on if it is compiled in or not.

> +	if (S_ISREG(st.st_mode)) {
> +#ifdef HAVE_ARCHIVE_H
> +		retval = __populate_fs_from_tar(fs, parent_ino, source, root, &hdlinks,
> +					   &file_info, fs_callbacks);
> +#else
> +		com_err(__func__, 0,
> +			_("you need to compile e2fsprogs with libarchive to be "
> +			  "able to process tarballs"));
> +		retval = 1;
> +#endif

This would be handled similarly.

> diff --git a/misc/create_inode_libarchive.c b/misc/create_inode_libarchive.c
> new file mode 100644
> index 00000000..26c3b4dc
> --- /dev/null
> +++ b/misc/create_inode_libarchive.c
> @@ -0,0 +1,677 @@
> +/*
> + * create_inode_libarchive.c --- create an inode from libarchive input
> + *
> + * Copyright (C) 2023 Johannes Schauer Marin Rodrigues <josch@debian.org>
> + *
> + * %Begin-Header%
> + * This file may be redistributed under the terms of the GNU library
> + * General Public License, version 2.
> + * %End-Header%
> + */
> +
> +#define _FILE_OFFSET_BITS 64
> +#define _LARGEFILE64_SOURCE 1
> +#define _GNU_SOURCE 1
> +
> +#include "config.h"
> +
> +#ifdef HAVE_ARCHIVE_H
> +
> +#include <ext2fs/ext2_types.h>
> +
> +#include "create_inode.h"
> +#include "support/nls-enable.h"
> +
> +/* 64KiB is the minimum blksize to best minimize system call overhead. */
> +#define COPY_FILE_BUFLEN 65536

If we expect larger files, having a 1MB or 16MB buffer is not outrageous
these days, and would probably improve the performance noticeably.

[snip]

> +/* Rounds qty up to a multiple of siz. siz should be a power of 2
> + */
> +static inline unsigned int __rndup(unsigned int qty, unsigned int siz)

I'm sure we can afford a few extra "e" here and write "size", and write
round_up() to make this code more readable...

> +{
> +	return (qty + (siz - 1)) & ~(siz - 1);
> +}
> +

[snip]

> +errcode_t __populate_fs_from_tar(ext2_filsys fs, ext2_ino_t root_ino,
> +				 const char *source_tar, ext2_ino_t root,
> +				 struct hdlinks_s *hdlinks,
> +				 struct file_info *target,
> +				 struct fs_ops_callbacks *fs_callbacks)
> +{
> +	char *path2, *path3, *dir, *name;
> +	unsigned int uid, gid, mode;
> +	unsigned long ctime, mtime;
> +	struct archive *a;
> +	struct archive_entry *entry;
> +	errcode_t retval = 0;
> +	locale_t archive_locale;
> +	locale_t old_locale;
> +	ext2_ino_t dirinode, tmpino;
> +	const struct stat *st;
> +
> +	if (!libarchive_available()) {
> +		com_err(__func__, 0,
> +			_("you need libarchive to be able to process tarballs"));
> +		return 1;
> +	}

[snip]

> +out:
> +	dl_archive_read_close(a);
> +	dl_archive_read_free(a);
> +	uselocale(old_locale);
> +	freelocale(archive_locale);
> +	return retval;
> +}

The "not supported" code would go here:

#else

errcode_t __populate_fs_from_tar(...)
{
	com_err(__func__, 0, _("you need to compile ..."));

	return 1;
}

> +#endif

[snip]


Cheers, Andreas
diff mbox series

Patch

diff --git a/MCONFIG.in b/MCONFIG.in
index 82c75a28..cb3ec759 100644
--- a/MCONFIG.in
+++ b/MCONFIG.in
@@ -141,6 +141,7 @@  LIBFUSE = @FUSE_LIB@
 LIBSUPPORT = $(LIBINTL) $(LIB)/libsupport@STATIC_LIB_EXT@
 LIBBLKID = @LIBBLKID@ @PRIVATE_LIBS_CMT@ $(LIBUUID)
 LIBINTL = @LIBINTL@
+LIBARCHIVE = @ARCHIVE_LIB@
 SYSLIBS = @LIBS@ @PTHREAD_LIBS@
 DEPLIBSS = $(LIB)/libss@LIB_EXT@
 DEPLIBCOM_ERR = $(LIB)/libcom_err@LIB_EXT@
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 72c39b4d..27b97c3b 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -704,6 +704,7 @@  SEM_INIT_LIB
 FUSE_CMT
 FUSE_LIB
 CLOCK_GETTIME_LIB
+ARCHIVE_LIB
 MAGIC_LIB
 SOCKET_LIB
 SIZEOF_TIME_T
@@ -8678,7 +8679,7 @@  else $as_nop
       *-*-aix*)
         cat confdefs.h - <<_ACEOF >conftest.$ac_ext
 /* end confdefs.h.  */
-#if defined __powerpc64__ || defined __LP64__
+#if defined __powerpc64__ || defined _ARCH_PPC64
                 int ok;
                #else
                 error fail
@@ -8969,7 +8970,7 @@  rm -f core conftest.err conftest.$ac_objext conftest.beam conftest.$ac_ext
            # be generating 64-bit code.
            cat confdefs.h - <<_ACEOF >conftest.$ac_ext
 /* end confdefs.h.  */
-#if defined __powerpc64__ || defined __LP64__
+#if defined __powerpc64__ || defined _ARCH_PPC64
                    int ok;
                   #else
                    error fail
@@ -9076,7 +9077,7 @@  then :
 else $as_nop
   cat confdefs.h - <<_ACEOF >conftest.$ac_ext
 /* end confdefs.h.  */
-#if defined __ELF__ || (defined __linux__ && defined __EDG__)
+#ifdef __ELF__
         Extensible Linking Format
         #endif
 
@@ -9094,7 +9095,7 @@  rm -rf conftest*
 fi
 { printf "%s\n" "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: result: $gl_cv_elf" >&5
 printf "%s\n" "$gl_cv_elf" >&6; }
-  if test $gl_cv_elf = yes; then
+  if test $gl_cv_elf; then
     # Extract the ELF class of a file (5th byte) in decimal.
     # Cf. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executable_and_Linkable_Format#File_header
     if od -A x < /dev/null >/dev/null 2>/dev/null; then
@@ -9111,22 +9112,19 @@  printf "%s\n" "$gl_cv_elf" >&6; }
         echo
       }
     fi
-    # Use 'expr', not 'test', to compare the values of func_elfclass, because on
-    # Solaris 11 OpenIndiana and Solaris 11 OmniOS, the result is 001 or 002,
-    # not 1 or 2.
     case $HOST_CPU_C_ABI_32BIT in
       yes)
         # 32-bit ABI.
         acl_is_expected_elfclass ()
         {
-          expr "`func_elfclass | sed -e 's/[ 	]//g'`" = 1 > /dev/null
+          test "`func_elfclass | sed -e 's/[ 	]//g'`" = 1
         }
         ;;
       no)
         # 64-bit ABI.
         acl_is_expected_elfclass ()
         {
-          expr "`func_elfclass | sed -e 's/[ 	]//g'`" = 2 > /dev/null
+          test "`func_elfclass | sed -e 's/[ 	]//g'`" = 2
         }
         ;;
       *)
@@ -9656,14 +9654,7 @@  fi
                     fi
                     ;;
                   -l*)
-                                                                                                                                                                dep=`echo "X$dep" | sed -e 's/^X-l//'`
-                    if test "X$dep" != Xc \
-                       || case $host_os in
-                            linux* | gnu* | k*bsd*-gnu) false ;;
-                            *)                          true ;;
-                          esac; then
-                      names_next_round="$names_next_round $dep"
-                    fi
+                                        names_next_round="$names_next_round "`echo "X$dep" | sed -e 's/^X-l//'`
                     ;;
                   *.la)
                                                                                 names_next_round="$names_next_round "`echo "X$dep" | sed -e 's,^X.*/,,' -e 's,^lib,,' -e 's,\.la$,,'`
@@ -10025,9 +10016,8 @@  int
 main (void)
 {
 int result = 0;
-  /* Test against AIX 5.1...7.2 bug: Failures are not distinguishable from
-     successful returns.  This is even documented in
-     <https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/ssw_aix_72/i_bostechref/iconv.html> */
+  /* Test against AIX 5.1 bug: Failures are not distinguishable from successful
+     returns.  */
   {
     iconv_t cd_utf8_to_88591 = iconv_open ("ISO8859-1", "UTF-8");
     if (cd_utf8_to_88591 != (iconv_t)(-1))
@@ -10609,14 +10599,7 @@  fi
                     fi
                     ;;
                   -l*)
-                                                                                                                                                                dep=`echo "X$dep" | sed -e 's/^X-l//'`
-                    if test "X$dep" != Xc \
-                       || case $host_os in
-                            linux* | gnu* | k*bsd*-gnu) false ;;
-                            *)                          true ;;
-                          esac; then
-                      names_next_round="$names_next_round $dep"
-                    fi
+                                        names_next_round="$names_next_round "`echo "X$dep" | sed -e 's/^X-l//'`
                     ;;
                   *.la)
                                                                                 names_next_round="$names_next_round "`echo "X$dep" | sed -e 's,^X.*/,,' -e 's,^lib,,' -e 's,\.la$,,'`
@@ -13539,6 +13522,57 @@  if test "$ac_cv_func_dlopen" = yes ; then
    MAGIC_LIB=$DLOPEN_LIB
 fi
 
+{ printf "%s\n" "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: checking for archive_read_new in -larchive" >&5
+printf %s "checking for archive_read_new in -larchive... " >&6; }
+if test ${ac_cv_lib_archive_archive_read_new+y}
+then :
+  printf %s "(cached) " >&6
+else $as_nop
+  ac_check_lib_save_LIBS=$LIBS
+LIBS="-larchive  $LIBS"
+cat confdefs.h - <<_ACEOF >conftest.$ac_ext
+/* end confdefs.h.  */
+
+/* Override any GCC internal prototype to avoid an error.
+   Use char because int might match the return type of a GCC
+   builtin and then its argument prototype would still apply.  */
+char archive_read_new ();
+int
+main (void)
+{
+return archive_read_new ();
+  ;
+  return 0;
+}
+_ACEOF
+if ac_fn_c_try_link "$LINENO"
+then :
+  ac_cv_lib_archive_archive_read_new=yes
+else $as_nop
+  ac_cv_lib_archive_archive_read_new=no
+fi
+rm -f core conftest.err conftest.$ac_objext conftest.beam \
+    conftest$ac_exeext conftest.$ac_ext
+LIBS=$ac_check_lib_save_LIBS
+fi
+{ printf "%s\n" "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: result: $ac_cv_lib_archive_archive_read_new" >&5
+printf "%s\n" "$ac_cv_lib_archive_archive_read_new" >&6; }
+if test "x$ac_cv_lib_archive_archive_read_new" = xyes
+then :
+  ARCHIVE_LIB=-larchive
+ac_fn_c_check_header_compile "$LINENO" "archive.h" "ac_cv_header_archive_h" "$ac_includes_default"
+if test "x$ac_cv_header_archive_h" = xyes
+then :
+  printf "%s\n" "#define HAVE_ARCHIVE_H 1" >>confdefs.h
+
+fi
+
+fi
+
+if test "$ac_cv_func_dlopen" = yes ; then
+   ARCHIVE_LIB=$DLOPEN_LIB
+fi
+
 { printf "%s\n" "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: checking for clock_gettime in -lrt" >&5
 printf %s "checking for clock_gettime in -lrt... " >&6; }
 if test ${ac_cv_lib_rt_clock_gettime+y}
@@ -14803,11 +14837,11 @@  if test x$ac_prog_cxx_stdcxx = xno
 then :
   { printf "%s\n" "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: checking for $CXX option to enable C++11 features" >&5
 printf %s "checking for $CXX option to enable C++11 features... " >&6; }
-if test ${ac_cv_prog_cxx_11+y}
+if test ${ac_cv_prog_cxx_cxx11+y}
 then :
   printf %s "(cached) " >&6
 else $as_nop
-  ac_cv_prog_cxx_11=no
+  ac_cv_prog_cxx_cxx11=no
 ac_save_CXX=$CXX
 cat confdefs.h - <<_ACEOF >conftest.$ac_ext
 /* end confdefs.h.  */
@@ -14849,11 +14883,11 @@  if test x$ac_prog_cxx_stdcxx = xno
 then :
   { printf "%s\n" "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: checking for $CXX option to enable C++98 features" >&5
 printf %s "checking for $CXX option to enable C++98 features... " >&6; }
-if test ${ac_cv_prog_cxx_98+y}
+if test ${ac_cv_prog_cxx_cxx98+y}
 then :
   printf %s "(cached) " >&6
 else $as_nop
-  ac_cv_prog_cxx_98=no
+  ac_cv_prog_cxx_cxx98=no
 ac_save_CXX=$CXX
 cat confdefs.h - <<_ACEOF >conftest.$ac_ext
 /* end confdefs.h.  */
@@ -15193,7 +15227,7 @@  fi
 
 
 if test $pkg_failed = yes; then
-   	{ printf "%s\n" "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: result: no" >&5
+        { printf "%s\n" "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: result: no" >&5
 printf "%s\n" "no" >&6; }
 
 if $PKG_CONFIG --atleast-pkgconfig-version 0.20; then
@@ -15202,25 +15236,25 @@  else
         _pkg_short_errors_supported=no
 fi
         if test $_pkg_short_errors_supported = yes; then
-	        udev_PKG_ERRORS=`$PKG_CONFIG --short-errors --print-errors --cflags --libs "udev" 2>&1`
+                udev_PKG_ERRORS=`$PKG_CONFIG --short-errors --print-errors --cflags --libs "udev" 2>&1`
         else
-	        udev_PKG_ERRORS=`$PKG_CONFIG --print-errors --cflags --libs "udev" 2>&1`
+                udev_PKG_ERRORS=`$PKG_CONFIG --print-errors --cflags --libs "udev" 2>&1`
         fi
-	# Put the nasty error message in config.log where it belongs
-	echo "$udev_PKG_ERRORS" >&5
+        # Put the nasty error message in config.log where it belongs
+        echo "$udev_PKG_ERRORS" >&5
 
 
 			with_udev_rules_dir=""
 
 elif test $pkg_failed = untried; then
-     	{ printf "%s\n" "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: result: no" >&5
+        { printf "%s\n" "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: result: no" >&5
 printf "%s\n" "no" >&6; }
 
 			with_udev_rules_dir=""
 
 else
-	udev_CFLAGS=$pkg_cv_udev_CFLAGS
-	udev_LIBS=$pkg_cv_udev_LIBS
+        udev_CFLAGS=$pkg_cv_udev_CFLAGS
+        udev_LIBS=$pkg_cv_udev_LIBS
         { printf "%s\n" "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: result: yes" >&5
 printf "%s\n" "yes" >&6; }
 
@@ -15362,7 +15396,7 @@  fi
 
 
 if test $pkg_failed = yes; then
-   	{ printf "%s\n" "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: result: no" >&5
+        { printf "%s\n" "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: result: no" >&5
 printf "%s\n" "no" >&6; }
 
 if $PKG_CONFIG --atleast-pkgconfig-version 0.20; then
@@ -15371,25 +15405,25 @@  else
         _pkg_short_errors_supported=no
 fi
         if test $_pkg_short_errors_supported = yes; then
-	        systemd_PKG_ERRORS=`$PKG_CONFIG --short-errors --print-errors --cflags --libs "systemd" 2>&1`
+                systemd_PKG_ERRORS=`$PKG_CONFIG --short-errors --print-errors --cflags --libs "systemd" 2>&1`
         else
-	        systemd_PKG_ERRORS=`$PKG_CONFIG --print-errors --cflags --libs "systemd" 2>&1`
+                systemd_PKG_ERRORS=`$PKG_CONFIG --print-errors --cflags --libs "systemd" 2>&1`
         fi
-	# Put the nasty error message in config.log where it belongs
-	echo "$systemd_PKG_ERRORS" >&5
+        # Put the nasty error message in config.log where it belongs
+        echo "$systemd_PKG_ERRORS" >&5
 
 
 			with_systemd_unit_dir=""
 
 elif test $pkg_failed = untried; then
-     	{ printf "%s\n" "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: result: no" >&5
+        { printf "%s\n" "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: result: no" >&5
 printf "%s\n" "no" >&6; }
 
 			with_systemd_unit_dir=""
 
 else
-	systemd_CFLAGS=$pkg_cv_systemd_CFLAGS
-	systemd_LIBS=$pkg_cv_systemd_LIBS
+        systemd_CFLAGS=$pkg_cv_systemd_CFLAGS
+        systemd_LIBS=$pkg_cv_systemd_LIBS
         { printf "%s\n" "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: result: yes" >&5
 printf "%s\n" "yes" >&6; }
 
@@ -17056,9 +17090,7 @@  printf "%s\n" "$as_me: executing $ac_file commands" >&6;}
                 #      presentlang can be used as a fallback for messages
                 #      which are not translated in the desiredlang catalog).
                 case "$desiredlang" in
-                  "$presentlang" | "$presentlang"_* | "$presentlang".* | "$presentlang"@*)
-                    useit=yes
-                    ;;
+                  "$presentlang"*) useit=yes;;
                 esac
               done
               if test $useit = yes; then
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index b905e999..69fbbd27 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1296,6 +1296,15 @@  if test "$ac_cv_func_dlopen" = yes ; then
 fi
 AC_SUBST(MAGIC_LIB)
 dnl
+dnl libarchive
+dnl
+AC_CHECK_LIB(archive, archive_read_new, [ARCHIVE_LIB=-larchive
+AC_CHECK_HEADERS([archive.h])])
+if test "$ac_cv_func_dlopen" = yes ; then
+   ARCHIVE_LIB=$DLOPEN_LIB
+fi
+AC_SUBST(ARCHIVE_LIB)
+dnl
 dnl Check to see if librt is required for clock_gettime() (glibc < 2.17)
 dnl
 AC_CHECK_LIB(rt, clock_gettime, [CLOCK_GETTIME_LIB=-lrt])
diff --git a/debugfs/Makefile.in b/debugfs/Makefile.in
index 67f8d0b6..b845a6f0 100644
--- a/debugfs/Makefile.in
+++ b/debugfs/Makefile.in
@@ -20,7 +20,8 @@  MK_CMDS=	_SS_DIR_OVERRIDE=$(srcdir)/../lib/ss ../lib/ss/mk_cmds
 DEBUG_OBJS= debug_cmds.o debugfs.o util.o ncheck.o icheck.o ls.o \
 	lsdel.o dump.o set_fields.o logdump.o htree.o unused.o e2freefrag.o \
 	filefrag.o extent_cmds.o extent_inode.o zap.o create_inode.o \
-	quota.o xattrs.o journal.o revoke.o recovery.o do_journal.o
+	create_inode_libarchive.o quota.o xattrs.o journal.o revoke.o \
+	recovery.o do_journal.o
 
 RO_DEBUG_OBJS= ro_debug_cmds.o ro_debugfs.o util.o ncheck.o icheck.o ls.o \
 	lsdel.o logdump.o htree.o e2freefrag.o filefrag.o extent_cmds.o \
@@ -31,12 +32,13 @@  SRCS= debug_cmds.c $(srcdir)/debugfs.c $(srcdir)/util.c $(srcdir)/ls.c \
 	$(srcdir)/dump.c $(srcdir)/set_fields.c ${srcdir}/logdump.c \
 	$(srcdir)/htree.c $(srcdir)/unused.c ${srcdir}/../misc/e2freefrag.c \
 	$(srcdir)/filefrag.c $(srcdir)/extent_inode.c $(srcdir)/zap.c \
-	$(srcdir)/../misc/create_inode.c $(srcdir)/xattrs.c $(srcdir)/quota.c \
-	$(srcdir)/journal.c $(srcdir)/../e2fsck/revoke.c \
+	$(srcdir)/../misc/create_inode.c \
+	$(srcdir)/../misc/create_inode_libarchive.c $(srcdir)/xattrs.c \
+	$(srcdir)/quota.c $(srcdir)/journal.c $(srcdir)/../e2fsck/revoke.c \
 	$(srcdir)/../e2fsck/recovery.c $(srcdir)/do_journal.c
 
 LIBS= $(LIBSUPPORT) $(LIBEXT2FS) $(LIBE2P) $(LIBSS) $(LIBCOM_ERR) $(LIBBLKID) \
-	$(LIBUUID) $(LIBMAGIC) $(SYSLIBS)
+	$(LIBUUID) $(LIBMAGIC) $(SYSLIBS) $(LIBARCHIVE)
 DEPLIBS= $(DEPLIBSUPPORT) $(LIBEXT2FS) $(LIBE2P) $(DEPLIBSS) $(DEPLIBCOM_ERR) \
 	$(DEPLIBBLKID) $(DEPLIBUUID)
 
@@ -113,6 +115,11 @@  create_inode.o: $(srcdir)/../misc/create_inode.c
 	$(Q) $(CC) -c $(ALL_CFLAGS) -I$(srcdir) \
 		 $(srcdir)/../misc/create_inode.c -o $@
 
+create_inode_libarchive.o: $(srcdir)/../misc/create_inode_libarchive.c
+	$(E) "	CC $@"
+	$(Q) $(CC) -c $(ALL_CFLAGS) -I$(srcdir) \
+		 $(srcdir)/../misc/create_inode_libarchive.c -o $@
+
 debugfs.8: $(DEP_SUBSTITUTE) $(srcdir)/debugfs.8.in
 	$(E) "	SUBST $@"
 	$(Q) $(SUBSTITUTE_UPTIME) $(srcdir)/debugfs.8.in debugfs.8
@@ -357,6 +364,16 @@  create_inode.o: $(srcdir)/../misc/create_inode.c $(top_builddir)/lib/config.h \
  $(top_srcdir)/lib/ext2fs/bitops.h $(top_srcdir)/lib/ext2fs/fiemap.h \
  $(srcdir)/../misc/create_inode.h $(top_srcdir)/lib/e2p/e2p.h \
  $(top_srcdir)/lib/support/nls-enable.h
+create_inode_libarchive.o: $(srcdir)/../misc/create_inode_libarchive.c \
+ $(top_builddir)/lib/config.h $(srcdir)/../misc/create_inode_libarchive.h \
+ $(top_builddir)/lib/dirpaths.h $(top_srcdir)/lib/ext2fs/ext2fs.h \
+ $(top_builddir)/lib/ext2fs/ext2_types.h $(top_srcdir)/lib/ext2fs/ext2_fs.h \
+ $(top_srcdir)/lib/ext2fs/ext3_extents.h $(top_srcdir)/lib/et/com_err.h \
+ $(top_srcdir)/lib/ext2fs/ext2_io.h $(top_builddir)/lib/ext2fs/ext2_err.h \
+ $(top_srcdir)/lib/ext2fs/ext2_ext_attr.h $(top_srcdir)/lib/ext2fs/hashmap.h \
+ $(top_srcdir)/lib/ext2fs/bitops.h $(top_srcdir)/lib/ext2fs/fiemap.h \
+ $(srcdir)/../misc/create_inode.h $(top_srcdir)/lib/e2p/e2p.h \
+ $(top_srcdir)/lib/support/nls-enable.h
 xattrs.o: $(srcdir)/xattrs.c $(top_builddir)/lib/config.h \
  $(top_builddir)/lib/dirpaths.h $(top_srcdir)/lib/support/cstring.h \
  $(srcdir)/debugfs.h $(top_srcdir)/lib/ss/ss.h \
diff --git a/lib/config.h.in b/lib/config.h.in
index 076c3823..30477698 100644
--- a/lib/config.h.in
+++ b/lib/config.h.in
@@ -40,6 +40,9 @@ 
 /* Define to 1 if you have the `add_key' function. */
 #undef HAVE_ADD_KEY
 
+/* Define to 1 if you have the <archive.h> header file. */
+#undef HAVE_ARCHIVE_H
+
 /* Define to 1 if you have the <attr/xattr.h> header file. */
 #undef HAVE_ATTR_XATTR_H
 
diff --git a/lib/ext2fs/Makefile.in b/lib/ext2fs/Makefile.in
index 798ff609..36c3e8ee 100644
--- a/lib/ext2fs/Makefile.in
+++ b/lib/ext2fs/Makefile.in
@@ -24,8 +24,8 @@  COMPILE_ET=	_ET_DIR_OVERRIDE=$(srcdir)/../et ../et/compile_et
 DEBUG_OBJS= debug_cmds.o extent_cmds.o tst_cmds.o debugfs.o util.o \
 	ncheck.o icheck.o ls.o lsdel.o dump.o set_fields.o logdump.o \
 	htree.o unused.o e2freefrag.o filefrag.o extent_inode.o zap.o \
-	xattrs.o quota.o tst_libext2fs.o create_inode.o journal.o \
-	revoke.o recovery.o do_journal.o
+	xattrs.o quota.o tst_libext2fs.o create_inode.o \
+	create_inode_libarchive.o journal.o revoke.o recovery.o do_journal.o
 
 DEBUG_SRCS= debug_cmds.c extent_cmds.c tst_cmds.c \
 	$(top_srcdir)/debugfs/debugfs.c \
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@  DEBUG_SRCS= debug_cmds.c extent_cmds.c tst_cmds.c \
 	$(top_srcdir)/debugfs/xattrs.c \
 	$(top_srcdir)/misc/e2freefrag.c \
 	$(top_srcdir)/misc/create_inode.c \
+	$(top_srcdir)/misc/create_inode_libarchive.c \
 	$(top_srcdir)/debugfs/journal.c \
 	$(top_srcdir)/e2fsck/revoke.c \
 	$(top_srcdir)/e2fsck/recovery.c \
@@ -458,7 +459,13 @@  e2freefrag.o: $(top_srcdir)/misc/e2freefrag.c
 	$(E) "	CC $<"
 	$(Q) $(CC) $(ALL_CFLAGS) -DDEBUGFS -I$(top_srcdir)/debugfs -c $< -o $@
 
-create_inode.o: $(top_srcdir)/misc/create_inode.c
+create_inode.o: $(top_srcdir)/misc/create_inode.c \
+ $(top_srcdir)/misc/create_inode_libarchive.c
+	$(E) "	CC $<"
+	$(Q) $(CC) $(ALL_CFLAGS) -DDEBUGFS -c $< -o $@
+
+create_inode_libarchive.o: $(top_srcdir)/misc/create_inode_libarchive.c \
+ $(top_srcdir)/misc/create_inode_libarchive.c
 	$(E) "	CC $<"
 	$(Q) $(CC) $(ALL_CFLAGS) -DDEBUGFS -c $< -o $@
 
@@ -499,7 +506,7 @@  tst_libext2fs: $(DEBUG_OBJS) \
 	$(Q) $(CC) -o tst_libext2fs $(ALL_LDFLAGS) -DDEBUG $(DEBUG_OBJS) \
 		$(STATIC_LIBSS) $(STATIC_LIBE2P) $(LIBSUPPORT) \
 		$(STATIC_LIBEXT2FS) $(LIBBLKID) $(LIBUUID) $(LIBMAGIC) \
-		$(STATIC_LIBCOM_ERR) $(SYSLIBS) -I $(top_srcdir)/debugfs
+		$(STATIC_LIBCOM_ERR) $(SYSLIBS) $(LIBARCHIVE) -I $(top_srcdir)/debugfs
 
 tst_inline: $(srcdir)/inline.c $(STATIC_LIBEXT2FS) $(DEPSTATIC_LIBCOM_ERR)
 	$(E) "	LD $@"
@@ -1413,6 +1420,16 @@  e2freefrag.o: $(top_srcdir)/misc/e2freefrag.c $(top_builddir)/lib/config.h \
  $(top_srcdir)/lib/support/dqblk_v2.h \
  $(top_srcdir)/lib/support/quotaio_tree.h
 create_inode.o: $(top_srcdir)/misc/create_inode.c \
+ $(top_srcdir)/misc/create_inode_libarchive.c \
+ $(top_builddir)/lib/config.h $(top_builddir)/lib/dirpaths.h \
+ $(srcdir)/ext2fs.h $(top_builddir)/lib/ext2fs/ext2_types.h \
+ $(srcdir)/ext2_fs.h $(srcdir)/ext3_extents.h $(top_srcdir)/lib/et/com_err.h \
+ $(srcdir)/ext2_io.h $(top_builddir)/lib/ext2fs/ext2_err.h \
+ $(srcdir)/ext2_ext_attr.h $(srcdir)/hashmap.h $(srcdir)/bitops.h \
+ $(srcdir)/fiemap.h $(top_srcdir)/misc/create_inode.h \
+ $(top_srcdir)/lib/e2p/e2p.h $(top_srcdir)/lib/support/nls-enable.h
+create_inode_libarchive.o: $(top_srcdir)/misc/create_inode_libarchive.c \
+ $(top_srcdir)/misc/create_inode_libarchive.c \
  $(top_builddir)/lib/config.h $(top_builddir)/lib/dirpaths.h \
  $(srcdir)/ext2fs.h $(top_builddir)/lib/ext2fs/ext2_types.h \
  $(srcdir)/ext2_fs.h $(srcdir)/ext3_extents.h $(top_srcdir)/lib/et/com_err.h \
diff --git a/misc/Makefile.in b/misc/Makefile.in
index e5420bbd..814e7064 100644
--- a/misc/Makefile.in
+++ b/misc/Makefile.in
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@  LPROGS=		@E2INITRD_PROG@
 TUNE2FS_OBJS=	tune2fs.o util.o journal.o recovery.o revoke.o
 MKLPF_OBJS=	mklost+found.o
 MKE2FS_OBJS=	mke2fs.o util.o default_profile.o mk_hugefiles.o \
-			create_inode.o
+			create_inode.o create_inode_libarchive.o
 CHATTR_OBJS=	chattr.o
 LSATTR_OBJS=	lsattr.o
 UUIDGEN_OBJS=	uuidgen.o
@@ -80,7 +80,8 @@  PROFILED_MKLPF_OBJS=	profiled/mklost+found.o
 PROFILED_MKE2FS_OBJS=	profiled/mke2fs.o profiled/util.o \
 				profiled/default_profile.o \
 				profiled/mk_hugefiles.o \
-				profiled/create_inode.o
+				profiled/create_inode.o \
+				profiled/create_inode_libarchive.o
 PROFILED_CHATTR_OBJS=	profiled/chattr.o
 PROFILED_LSATTR_OBJS=	profiled/lsattr.o
 PROFILED_UUIDGEN_OBJS=	profiled/uuidgen.o
@@ -281,7 +282,7 @@  mke2fs: $(MKE2FS_OBJS) $(DEPLIBS) $(LIBE2P) $(DEPLIBBLKID) $(DEPLIBUUID) \
 	$(E) "	LD $@"
 	$(Q) $(CC) $(ALL_LDFLAGS) -o mke2fs $(MKE2FS_OBJS) $(LIBS) $(LIBBLKID) \
 		$(LIBUUID) $(LIBEXT2FS) $(LIBE2P) $(LIBINTL) \
-		$(SYSLIBS) $(LIBMAGIC)
+		$(SYSLIBS) $(LIBMAGIC) $(LIBARCHIVE)
 
 mke2fs.static: $(MKE2FS_OBJS) $(STATIC_DEPLIBS) $(STATIC_LIBE2P) $(DEPSTATIC_LIBUUID) \
 		$(DEPSTATIC_LIBBLKID)
@@ -857,6 +858,16 @@  create_inode.o: $(srcdir)/create_inode.c $(top_builddir)/lib/config.h \
  $(top_srcdir)/lib/ext2fs/bitops.h $(top_srcdir)/lib/ext2fs/fiemap.h \
  $(srcdir)/create_inode.h $(top_srcdir)/lib/e2p/e2p.h \
  $(top_srcdir)/lib/support/nls-enable.h
+create_inode_libarchive.o: $(srcdir)/create_inode_libarchive.c \
+ $(top_builddir)/lib/config.h \
+ $(top_builddir)/lib/dirpaths.h $(top_srcdir)/lib/ext2fs/ext2fs.h \
+ $(top_builddir)/lib/ext2fs/ext2_types.h $(top_srcdir)/lib/ext2fs/ext2_fs.h \
+ $(top_srcdir)/lib/ext2fs/ext3_extents.h $(top_srcdir)/lib/et/com_err.h \
+ $(top_srcdir)/lib/ext2fs/ext2_io.h $(top_builddir)/lib/ext2fs/ext2_err.h \
+ $(top_srcdir)/lib/ext2fs/ext2_ext_attr.h $(top_srcdir)/lib/ext2fs/hashmap.h \
+ $(top_srcdir)/lib/ext2fs/bitops.h $(top_srcdir)/lib/ext2fs/fiemap.h \
+ $(srcdir)/create_inode.h $(top_srcdir)/lib/e2p/e2p.h \
+ $(top_srcdir)/lib/support/nls-enable.h
 fuse2fs.o: $(srcdir)/fuse2fs.c $(top_builddir)/lib/config.h \
  $(top_builddir)/lib/dirpaths.h $(top_srcdir)/lib/ext2fs/ext2fs.h \
  $(top_builddir)/lib/ext2fs/ext2_types.h $(top_srcdir)/lib/ext2fs/ext2_fs.h \
diff --git a/misc/create_inode.c b/misc/create_inode.c
index a3a34cd9..6382f17e 100644
--- a/misc/create_inode.c
+++ b/misc/create_inode.c
@@ -39,6 +39,10 @@ 
 #include "create_inode.h"
 #include "support/nls-enable.h"
 
+#ifdef HAVE_ARCHIVE_H
+#include "create_inode_libarchive.h"
+#endif
+
 /* 64KiB is the minimum blksize to best minimize system call overhead. */
 #define COPY_FILE_BUFLEN	65536
 
@@ -69,7 +73,7 @@  static int ext2_file_type(unsigned int mode)
 }
 
 /* Link an inode number to a directory */
-static errcode_t add_link(ext2_filsys fs, ext2_ino_t parent_ino,
+errcode_t add_link(ext2_filsys fs, ext2_ino_t parent_ino,
 			  ext2_ino_t ino, const char *name)
 {
 	struct ext2_inode	inode;
@@ -108,8 +112,8 @@  static errcode_t add_link(ext2_filsys fs, ext2_ino_t parent_ino,
 }
 
 /* Set the uid, gid, mode and time for the inode */
-static errcode_t set_inode_extra(ext2_filsys fs, ext2_ino_t ino,
-				 struct stat *st)
+errcode_t set_inode_extra(ext2_filsys fs, ext2_ino_t ino,
+				 const struct stat *st)
 {
 	errcode_t		retval;
 	struct ext2_inode	inode;
@@ -720,12 +724,6 @@  out:
 	return retval;
 }
 
-struct file_info {
-	char *path;
-	size_t path_len;
-	size_t path_max_len;
-};
-
 static errcode_t path_append(struct file_info *target, const char *file)
 {
 	if (strlen(file) + target->path_len + 1 > target->path_max_len) {
@@ -1044,7 +1042,7 @@  out:
 }
 
 errcode_t populate_fs2(ext2_filsys fs, ext2_ino_t parent_ino,
-		       const char *source_dir, ext2_ino_t root,
+		       const char *source, ext2_ino_t root,
 		       struct fs_ops_callbacks *fs_callbacks)
 {
 	struct file_info file_info;
@@ -1069,14 +1067,49 @@  errcode_t populate_fs2(ext2_filsys fs, ext2_ino_t parent_ino,
 	file_info.path_max_len = 255;
 	file_info.path = calloc(file_info.path_max_len, 1);
 
-	retval = set_inode_xattr(fs, root, source_dir);
+	/* interpret input as tarball either if it's "-" (stdin) or if it's
+	 * a regular file (or a symlink pointing to a regular file)
+	 */
+	if (strcmp(source, "-") == 0) {
+#ifdef HAVE_ARCHIVE_H
+		retval = __populate_fs_from_tar(fs, parent_ino, NULL, root, &hdlinks,
+					   &file_info, fs_callbacks);
+#else
+		com_err(__func__, 0,
+			_("you need to compile e2fsprogs with libarchive to "
+			  "be able to process tarballs"));
+		retval = 1;
+#endif
+		goto out;
+	}
+
+	struct stat st;
+	if (stat(source, &st)) {
+		retval = errno;
+		com_err(__func__, retval, _("while calling stat"));
+		return retval;
+	}
+	if (S_ISREG(st.st_mode)) {
+#ifdef HAVE_ARCHIVE_H
+		retval = __populate_fs_from_tar(fs, parent_ino, source, root, &hdlinks,
+					   &file_info, fs_callbacks);
+#else
+		com_err(__func__, 0,
+			_("you need to compile e2fsprogs with libarchive to be "
+			  "able to process tarballs"));
+		retval = 1;
+#endif
+		goto out;
+	}
+
+	retval = set_inode_xattr(fs, root, source);
 	if (retval) {
 		com_err(__func__, retval,
 			_("while copying xattrs on root directory"));
 		goto out;
 	}
 
-	retval = __populate_fs(fs, parent_ino, source_dir, root, &hdlinks,
+	retval = __populate_fs(fs, parent_ino, source, root, &hdlinks,
 			       &file_info, fs_callbacks);
 
 out:
@@ -1086,7 +1119,7 @@  out:
 }
 
 errcode_t populate_fs(ext2_filsys fs, ext2_ino_t parent_ino,
-		      const char *source_dir, ext2_ino_t root)
+		      const char *source, ext2_ino_t root)
 {
-	return populate_fs2(fs, parent_ino, source_dir, root, NULL);
+	return populate_fs2(fs, parent_ino, source, root, NULL);
 }
diff --git a/misc/create_inode.h b/misc/create_inode.h
index b5eeb420..c75d6855 100644
--- a/misc/create_inode.h
+++ b/misc/create_inode.h
@@ -22,6 +22,12 @@  struct hdlinks_s
 	struct hdlink_s *hdl;
 };
 
+struct file_info {
+	char *path;
+	size_t path_len;
+	size_t path_max_len;
+};
+
 #define HDLINK_CNT	(4)
 
 struct fs_ops_callbacks {
@@ -53,5 +59,9 @@  extern errcode_t do_mkdir_internal(ext2_filsys fs, ext2_ino_t cwd,
 extern errcode_t do_write_internal(ext2_filsys fs, ext2_ino_t cwd,
 				   const char *src, const char *dest,
 				   ext2_ino_t root);
+extern errcode_t add_link(ext2_filsys fs, ext2_ino_t parent_ino,
+			  ext2_ino_t ino, const char *name);
+extern errcode_t set_inode_extra(ext2_filsys fs, ext2_ino_t ino,
+				 const struct stat *st);
 
 #endif /* _CREATE_INODE_H */
diff --git a/misc/create_inode_libarchive.c b/misc/create_inode_libarchive.c
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..26c3b4dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/misc/create_inode_libarchive.c
@@ -0,0 +1,677 @@ 
+/*
+ * create_inode_libarchive.c --- create an inode from libarchive input
+ *
+ * Copyright (C) 2023 Johannes Schauer Marin Rodrigues <josch@debian.org>
+ *
+ * %Begin-Header%
+ * This file may be redistributed under the terms of the GNU library
+ * General Public License, version 2.
+ * %End-Header%
+ */
+
+#define _FILE_OFFSET_BITS 64
+#define _LARGEFILE64_SOURCE 1
+#define _GNU_SOURCE 1
+
+#include "config.h"
+
+#ifdef HAVE_ARCHIVE_H
+
+#include <ext2fs/ext2_types.h>
+
+#include "create_inode.h"
+#include "support/nls-enable.h"
+
+/* 64KiB is the minimum blksize to best minimize system call overhead. */
+#define COPY_FILE_BUFLEN 65536
+
+#include <locale.h>
+#include <libgen.h>
+#include <archive.h>
+#include <archive_entry.h>
+
+static const char *(*dl_archive_entry_hardlink)(struct archive_entry *);
+static const char *(*dl_archive_entry_pathname)(struct archive_entry *);
+static const struct stat *(*dl_archive_entry_stat)(struct archive_entry *);
+static const char *(*dl_archive_entry_symlink)(struct archive_entry *);
+static int (*dl_archive_entry_xattr_count)(struct archive_entry *);
+static int (*dl_archive_entry_xattr_next)(struct archive_entry *, const char **,
+					  const void **, size_t *);
+static int (*dl_archive_entry_xattr_reset)(struct archive_entry *);
+static const char *(*dl_archive_error_string)(struct archive *);
+static int (*dl_archive_read_close)(struct archive *);
+static la_ssize_t (*dl_archive_read_data)(struct archive *, void *, size_t);
+static int (*dl_archive_read_free)(struct archive *);
+static struct archive *(*dl_archive_read_new)(void);
+static int (*dl_archive_read_next_header)(struct archive *,
+					  struct archive_entry **);
+static int (*dl_archive_read_open_filename)(struct archive *,
+					    const char *filename, size_t);
+static int (*dl_archive_read_support_filter_all)(struct archive *);
+static int (*dl_archive_read_support_format_all)(struct archive *);
+
+#ifdef HAVE_DLOPEN
+#include <dlfcn.h>
+
+static void *libarchive_handle;
+
+static int libarchive_available(void)
+{
+	if (!libarchive_handle) {
+		libarchive_handle = dlopen("libarchive.so.13", RTLD_NOW);
+		if (!libarchive_handle)
+			return 0;
+
+		dl_archive_entry_hardlink =
+			(const char *(*)(struct archive_entry *))dlsym(
+				libarchive_handle, "archive_entry_hardlink");
+		if (!dl_archive_entry_hardlink)
+			return 0;
+		dl_archive_entry_pathname =
+			(const char *(*)(struct archive_entry *))dlsym(
+				libarchive_handle, "archive_entry_pathname");
+		if (!dl_archive_entry_pathname)
+			return 0;
+		dl_archive_entry_stat =
+			(const struct stat *(*)(struct archive_entry *))dlsym(
+				libarchive_handle, "archive_entry_stat");
+		if (!dl_archive_entry_stat)
+			return 0;
+		dl_archive_entry_symlink =
+			(const char *(*)(struct archive_entry *))dlsym(
+				libarchive_handle, "archive_entry_symlink");
+		if (!dl_archive_entry_symlink)
+			return 0;
+		dl_archive_entry_xattr_count =
+			(int (*)(struct archive_entry *))dlsym(
+				libarchive_handle, "archive_entry_xattr_count");
+		if (!dl_archive_entry_xattr_count)
+			return 0;
+		dl_archive_entry_xattr_next = (int (*)(
+			struct archive_entry *, const char **, const void **,
+			size_t *))dlsym(libarchive_handle,
+					"archive_entry_xattr_next");
+		if (!dl_archive_entry_xattr_next)
+			return 0;
+		dl_archive_entry_xattr_reset =
+			(int (*)(struct archive_entry *))dlsym(
+				libarchive_handle, "archive_entry_xattr_reset");
+		if (!dl_archive_entry_xattr_reset)
+			return 0;
+		dl_archive_error_string =
+			(const char *(*)(struct archive *))dlsym(
+				libarchive_handle, "archive_error_string");
+		if (!dl_archive_error_string)
+			return 0;
+		dl_archive_read_close = (int (*)(struct archive *))dlsym(
+			libarchive_handle, "archive_read_close");
+		if (!dl_archive_read_close)
+			return 0;
+		dl_archive_read_data =
+			(la_ssize_t(*)(struct archive *, void *, size_t))dlsym(
+				libarchive_handle, "archive_read_data");
+		if (!dl_archive_read_data)
+			return 0;
+		dl_archive_read_free = (int (*)(struct archive *))dlsym(
+			libarchive_handle, "archive_read_free");
+		if (!dl_archive_read_free)
+			return 0;
+		dl_archive_read_new = (struct archive * (*)(void))
+			dlsym(libarchive_handle, "archive_read_new");
+		if (!dl_archive_read_new)
+			return 0;
+		dl_archive_read_next_header = (int (*)(struct archive *,
+						       struct archive_entry **))
+			dlsym(libarchive_handle, "archive_read_next_header");
+		if (!dl_archive_read_next_header)
+			return 0;
+		dl_archive_read_open_filename =
+			(int (*)(struct archive *, const char *filename,
+				 size_t))dlsym(libarchive_handle,
+					       "archive_read_open_filename");
+		if (!dl_archive_read_open_filename)
+			return 0;
+		dl_archive_read_support_filter_all =
+			(int (*)(struct archive *))dlsym(
+				libarchive_handle,
+				"archive_read_support_filter_all");
+		if (!dl_archive_read_support_filter_all)
+			return 0;
+		dl_archive_read_support_format_all =
+			(int (*)(struct archive *))dlsym(
+				libarchive_handle,
+				"archive_read_support_format_all");
+		if (!dl_archive_read_support_format_all)
+			return 0;
+	}
+
+	return 1;
+}
+#else
+static int libarchive_available(void)
+{
+	dl_archive_entry_hardlink = archive_entry_hardlink;
+	dl_archive_entry_pathname = archive_entry_pathname;
+	dl_archive_entry_stat = archive_entry_stat;
+	dl_archive_entry_symlink = archive_entry_symlink;
+	dl_archive_entry_xattr_count = archive_entry_xattr_count;
+	dl_archive_entry_xattr_next = archive_entry_xattr_next;
+	dl_archive_entry_xattr_reset = archive_entry_xattr_reset;
+	dl_archive_error_string = archive_error_string;
+	dl_archive_read_close = archive_read_close;
+	dl_archive_read_data = archive_read_data;
+	dl_archive_read_free = archive_read_free;
+	dl_archive_read_new = archive_read_new;
+	dl_archive_read_next_header = archive_read_next_header;
+	dl_archive_read_open_filename = archive_read_open_filename;
+	dl_archive_read_support_filter_all = archive_read_support_filter_all;
+	dl_archive_read_support_format_all = archive_read_support_format_all;
+
+	return 1;
+}
+#endif
+
+static errcode_t __find_path(ext2_filsys fs, ext2_ino_t root, const char *name,
+			     ext2_ino_t *inode)
+{
+	errcode_t retval;
+	ext2_ino_t tmpino;
+	char *p, *n, *n2 = strdup(name);
+
+	if (n2 == NULL) {
+		retval = errno;
+		goto out;
+	}
+	n = n2;
+	*inode = root;
+	/* any number of leading slashes */
+	while (*n == '/')
+		n++;
+	while (*n) {
+		/* replace the next slash by a NULL, if any */
+		if ((p = strchr(n, '/')))
+			(*p) = 0;
+		/* find the inode of the next component */
+		retval = ext2fs_lookup(fs, *inode, n, strlen(n), 0, &tmpino);
+		if (retval)
+			goto out;
+		*inode = tmpino;
+		/* continue the search at the character after the slash */
+		if (p)
+			n = p + 1;
+		else
+			break;
+	}
+
+out:
+	free(n2);
+	return retval;
+}
+
+/* Rounds qty up to a multiple of siz. siz should be a power of 2
+ */
+static inline unsigned int __rndup(unsigned int qty, unsigned int siz)
+{
+	return (qty + (siz - 1)) & ~(siz - 1);
+}
+
+static int remove_inode(ext2_filsys fs, ext2_ino_t ino)
+{
+	errcode_t ret = 0;
+	struct ext2_inode_large inode;
+
+	memset(&inode, 0, sizeof(inode));
+	ret = ext2fs_read_inode_full(fs, ino, (struct ext2_inode *)&inode,
+				     sizeof(inode));
+	if (ret)
+		goto out;
+
+	switch (inode.i_links_count) {
+	case 0:
+		return 0; /* XXX: already done? */
+	case 1:
+		inode.i_links_count--;
+		inode.i_dtime = fs->now ? fs->now : time(0);
+		break;
+	default:
+		inode.i_links_count--;
+	}
+
+	if (inode.i_links_count)
+		goto write_out;
+
+	/* Nobody holds this file; free its blocks! */
+	ret = ext2fs_free_ext_attr(fs, ino, &inode);
+	if (ret)
+		goto write_out;
+
+	if (ext2fs_inode_has_valid_blocks2(fs, (struct ext2_inode *)&inode)) {
+		ret = ext2fs_punch(fs, ino, (struct ext2_inode *)&inode, NULL,
+				   0, ~0ULL);
+		if (ret)
+			goto write_out;
+	}
+
+	ext2fs_inode_alloc_stats2(fs, ino, -1, LINUX_S_ISDIR(inode.i_mode));
+
+write_out:
+	ret = ext2fs_write_inode_full(fs, ino, (struct ext2_inode *)&inode,
+				      sizeof(inode));
+	if (ret)
+		goto out;
+out:
+	return ret;
+}
+
+static errcode_t copy_file_chunk_tar(ext2_filsys fs, struct archive *archive,
+				     ext2_file_t e2_file, off_t start,
+				     off_t end, char *buf, char *zerobuf)
+{
+	off_t off, bpos;
+	ssize_t got, blen;
+	unsigned int written;
+	char *ptr;
+	errcode_t err = 0;
+
+	for (off = start; off < end; off += COPY_FILE_BUFLEN) {
+		got = dl_archive_read_data(archive, buf, COPY_FILE_BUFLEN);
+		if (got < 0) {
+			err = errno;
+			goto fail;
+		}
+		for (bpos = 0, ptr = buf; bpos < got; bpos += fs->blocksize) {
+			blen = fs->blocksize;
+			if (blen > got - bpos)
+				blen = got - bpos;
+			if (memcmp(ptr, zerobuf, blen) == 0) {
+				ptr += blen;
+				continue;
+			}
+			err = ext2fs_file_llseek(e2_file, off + bpos,
+						 EXT2_SEEK_SET, NULL);
+			if (err)
+				goto fail;
+			while (blen > 0) {
+				err = ext2fs_file_write(e2_file, ptr, blen,
+							&written);
+				if (err)
+					goto fail;
+				if (written == 0) {
+					err = EIO;
+					goto fail;
+				}
+				blen -= written;
+				ptr += written;
+			}
+		}
+	}
+fail:
+	return err;
+}
+static errcode_t copy_file_tar(ext2_filsys fs, struct archive *archive,
+			       const struct stat *statbuf, ext2_ino_t ino)
+{
+	ext2_file_t e2_file;
+	char *buf = NULL, *zerobuf = NULL;
+	errcode_t err, close_err;
+
+	err = ext2fs_file_open(fs, ino, EXT2_FILE_WRITE, &e2_file);
+	if (err)
+		return err;
+
+	err = ext2fs_get_mem(COPY_FILE_BUFLEN, &buf);
+	if (err)
+		goto out;
+
+	err = ext2fs_get_memzero(fs->blocksize, &zerobuf);
+	if (err)
+		goto out;
+
+	err = copy_file_chunk_tar(fs, archive, e2_file, 0, statbuf->st_size,
+				  buf, zerobuf);
+out:
+	ext2fs_free_mem(&zerobuf);
+	ext2fs_free_mem(&buf);
+	close_err = ext2fs_file_close(e2_file);
+	if (err == 0)
+		err = close_err;
+	return err;
+}
+
+static errcode_t do_write_internal_tar(ext2_filsys fs, ext2_ino_t cwd,
+				       struct archive *archive,
+				       const char *dest,
+				       const struct stat *statbuf)
+{
+	ext2_ino_t newfile;
+	errcode_t retval;
+	struct ext2_inode inode;
+	char *cp;
+
+	retval = ext2fs_new_inode(fs, cwd, 010755, 0, &newfile);
+	if (retval)
+		goto out;
+#ifdef DEBUGFS
+	printf("Allocated inode: %u\n", newfile);
+#endif
+	retval = ext2fs_link(fs, cwd, dest, newfile, EXT2_FT_REG_FILE);
+	if (retval == EXT2_ET_DIR_NO_SPACE) {
+		retval = ext2fs_expand_dir(fs, cwd);
+		if (retval)
+			goto out;
+		retval = ext2fs_link(fs, cwd, dest, newfile, EXT2_FT_REG_FILE);
+	}
+	if (retval)
+		goto out;
+	if (ext2fs_test_inode_bitmap2(fs->inode_map, newfile))
+		com_err(__func__, 0, "Warning: inode already set");
+	ext2fs_inode_alloc_stats2(fs, newfile, 1, 0);
+	memset(&inode, 0, sizeof(inode));
+	inode.i_mode = (statbuf->st_mode & ~S_IFMT) | LINUX_S_IFREG;
+	inode.i_atime = inode.i_ctime = inode.i_mtime = fs->now ? fs->now :
+								  time(0);
+	inode.i_links_count = 1;
+	retval = ext2fs_inode_size_set(fs, &inode, statbuf->st_size);
+	if (retval)
+		goto out;
+	if (ext2fs_has_feature_inline_data(fs->super)) {
+		inode.i_flags |= EXT4_INLINE_DATA_FL;
+	} else if (ext2fs_has_feature_extents(fs->super)) {
+		ext2_extent_handle_t handle;
+
+		inode.i_flags &= ~EXT4_EXTENTS_FL;
+		retval = ext2fs_extent_open2(fs, newfile, &inode, &handle);
+		if (retval)
+			goto out;
+		ext2fs_extent_free(handle);
+	}
+
+	retval = ext2fs_write_new_inode(fs, newfile, &inode);
+	if (retval)
+		goto out;
+	if (inode.i_flags & EXT4_INLINE_DATA_FL) {
+		retval = ext2fs_inline_data_init(fs, newfile);
+		if (retval)
+			goto out;
+	}
+	if (LINUX_S_ISREG(inode.i_mode)) {
+		retval = copy_file_tar(fs, archive, statbuf, newfile);
+		if (retval)
+			goto out;
+	}
+out:
+	return retval;
+}
+
+static errcode_t set_inode_xattr_tar(ext2_filsys fs, ext2_ino_t ino,
+				     struct archive_entry *entry)
+{
+	errcode_t retval, close_retval;
+	struct ext2_xattr_handle *handle;
+	ssize_t size;
+	const char *name;
+	const void *value;
+	size_t value_size;
+
+	if (no_copy_xattrs)
+		return 0;
+
+	size = dl_archive_entry_xattr_count(entry);
+	if (size == 0)
+		return 0;
+
+	retval = ext2fs_xattrs_open(fs, ino, &handle);
+	if (retval) {
+		if (retval == EXT2_ET_MISSING_EA_FEATURE)
+			return 0;
+		com_err(__func__, retval, _("while opening inode %u"), ino);
+		return retval;
+	}
+
+	retval = ext2fs_xattrs_read(handle);
+	if (retval) {
+		com_err(__func__, retval,
+			_("while reading xattrs for inode %u"), ino);
+		goto out;
+	}
+
+	dl_archive_entry_xattr_reset(entry);
+	while (dl_archive_entry_xattr_next(entry, &name, &value, &value_size) ==
+	       ARCHIVE_OK) {
+		if (strcmp(name, "security.capability") != 0)
+			continue;
+
+		retval = ext2fs_xattr_set(handle, name, value, value_size);
+		if (retval) {
+			com_err(__func__, retval,
+				_("while writing attribute \"%s\" to inode %u"),
+				name, ino);
+			break;
+		}
+	}
+out:
+	close_retval = ext2fs_xattrs_close(&handle);
+	if (close_retval) {
+		com_err(__func__, retval, _("while closing inode %u"), ino);
+		retval = retval ? retval : close_retval;
+	}
+	return retval;
+}
+
+static errcode_t handle_entry(ext2_filsys fs, ext2_ino_t root_ino,
+			      ext2_ino_t root, ext2_ino_t dirinode, char *name,
+			      struct archive *a, struct archive_entry *entry)
+{
+	const struct stat *st;
+	errcode_t retval = 0;
+	char *ln_target;
+	ext2_ino_t tmpino;
+
+	st = dl_archive_entry_stat(entry);
+
+	switch (st->st_mode & S_IFMT) {
+	case S_IFCHR:
+	case S_IFBLK:
+	case S_IFIFO:
+	case S_IFSOCK:
+		retval = do_mknod_internal(fs, dirinode, name, st->st_mode,
+					   st->st_rdev);
+		if (retval) {
+			com_err(__func__, retval,
+				_("while creating special file "
+				  "\"%s\""),
+				name);
+			return 1;
+		}
+		break;
+	case S_IFLNK:
+		ln_target = calloc(
+			1,
+			__rndup(strlen(dl_archive_entry_symlink(entry)), 1024));
+		strcpy(ln_target, dl_archive_entry_symlink(entry));
+		retval = do_symlink_internal(fs, dirinode, name, ln_target,
+					     root);
+		free(ln_target);
+		if (retval) {
+			com_err(__func__, retval,
+				_("while writing symlink\"%s\""), name);
+			return 1;
+		}
+		break;
+	case S_IFREG:
+		retval = do_write_internal_tar(fs, dirinode, a, name, st);
+		if (retval) {
+			com_err(__func__, retval,
+				_("while writing file \"%s\""), name);
+			return 1;
+		}
+		break;
+	case S_IFDIR:
+		retval = do_mkdir_internal(fs, dirinode, name, root);
+		if (retval) {
+			com_err(__func__, retval, _("while making dir \"%s\""),
+				name);
+			return 1;
+		}
+		break;
+	default:
+		if (dl_archive_entry_hardlink(entry) != NULL) {
+			if (retval = __find_path(
+				    fs, root_ino,
+				    dl_archive_entry_hardlink(entry),
+				    &tmpino)) {
+				com_err(__func__, retval,
+					_("cannot find hardlink destination \"%s\" "
+					  "to create \"%s\""),
+					dl_archive_entry_hardlink(entry), name);
+				return 1;
+			}
+			retval = add_link(fs, dirinode, tmpino, name);
+			if (retval) {
+				com_err(__func__, retval, "while linking %s",
+					name);
+				return 1;
+			}
+		} else {
+			com_err(__func__, 0, _("ignoring entry \"%s\""),
+				dl_archive_entry_pathname(entry));
+		}
+	}
+	return 0;
+}
+
+errcode_t __populate_fs_from_tar(ext2_filsys fs, ext2_ino_t root_ino,
+				 const char *source_tar, ext2_ino_t root,
+				 struct hdlinks_s *hdlinks,
+				 struct file_info *target,
+				 struct fs_ops_callbacks *fs_callbacks)
+{
+	char *path2, *path3, *dir, *name;
+	unsigned int uid, gid, mode;
+	unsigned long ctime, mtime;
+	struct archive *a;
+	struct archive_entry *entry;
+	errcode_t retval = 0;
+	locale_t archive_locale;
+	locale_t old_locale;
+	ext2_ino_t dirinode, tmpino;
+	const struct stat *st;
+
+	if (!libarchive_available()) {
+		com_err(__func__, 0,
+			_("you need libarchive to be able to process tarballs"));
+		return 1;
+	}
+
+	archive_locale = newlocale(LC_CTYPE_MASK, "", (locale_t)0);
+	old_locale = uselocale(archive_locale);
+	a = dl_archive_read_new();
+	if (a == NULL) {
+		retval = 1;
+		com_err(__func__, retval, _("while creating archive reader"));
+		goto out;
+	}
+	if (dl_archive_read_support_filter_all(a) != ARCHIVE_OK) {
+		retval = 1;
+		com_err(__func__, retval, _("while enabling decompression"));
+		goto out;
+	}
+	if (dl_archive_read_support_format_all(a) != ARCHIVE_OK) {
+		retval = 1;
+		com_err(__func__, retval, _("while enabling reader formats"));
+		goto out;
+	}
+
+	if ((retval = dl_archive_read_open_filename(a, source_tar, 4096))) {
+		com_err(__func__, retval, _("while opening \"%s\""),
+			dl_archive_error_string(a));
+		goto out;
+	}
+
+	for (;;) {
+		retval = dl_archive_read_next_header(a, &entry);
+		if (retval == ARCHIVE_EOF) {
+			retval = 0;
+			break;
+		}
+		if (retval != ARCHIVE_OK) {
+			com_err(__func__, retval,
+				_("cannot read archive header: \"%s\""),
+				dl_archive_error_string(a));
+			goto out;
+		}
+		path2 = strdup(dl_archive_entry_pathname(entry));
+		path3 = strdup(dl_archive_entry_pathname(entry));
+		name = basename(path2);
+		dir = dirname(path3);
+		if (retval = __find_path(fs, root_ino, dir, &dirinode)) {
+			com_err(__func__, retval,
+				_("cannot find directory \"%s\" to create \"%s\""),
+				dir, name);
+			goto out;
+		}
+		retval = ext2fs_namei(fs, root, dirinode, name, &tmpino);
+		if (!retval) {
+			/* repeated element in tar -- delete the existing one */
+			retval = ext2fs_unlink(fs, dirinode, name, tmpino, 0);
+			if (retval) {
+				com_err(__func__, retval,
+					_("failed to unlink \"%s/%s\""), dir,
+					name);
+				goto out;
+			}
+			retval = remove_inode(fs, tmpino);
+			if (retval) {
+				com_err(__func__, retval,
+					_("failed to remove inode of \"%s/%s\""),
+					dir, name);
+				goto out;
+			}
+		}
+
+		retval = handle_entry(fs, root_ino, root, dirinode, name, a,
+				      entry);
+		if (retval)
+			goto out;
+		retval = ext2fs_namei(fs, root, dirinode, name, &tmpino);
+		if (retval) {
+			com_err(name, retval, _("while looking up \"%s\""),
+				name);
+			goto out;
+		}
+
+		st = dl_archive_entry_stat(entry);
+		retval = set_inode_extra(fs, tmpino, st);
+		if (retval) {
+			com_err(__func__, retval,
+				_("while setting inode for \"%s\""), name);
+			goto out;
+		}
+
+		retval = set_inode_xattr_tar(fs, tmpino, entry);
+		if (retval) {
+			com_err(__func__, retval,
+				_("while setting xattrs for \"%s\""), name);
+			goto out;
+		}
+
+		if (fs_callbacks && fs_callbacks->end_create_new_inode) {
+			retval = fs_callbacks->end_create_new_inode(
+				fs, target->path, name, dirinode, root,
+				st->st_mode & S_IFMT);
+			if (retval)
+				goto out;
+		}
+
+		free(path2);
+		free(path3);
+	}
+
+out:
+	dl_archive_read_close(a);
+	dl_archive_read_free(a);
+	uselocale(old_locale);
+	freelocale(archive_locale);
+	return retval;
+}
+#endif
diff --git a/misc/create_inode_libarchive.h b/misc/create_inode_libarchive.h
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..78c454e3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/misc/create_inode_libarchive.h
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@ 
+#ifndef _CREATE_INODE_LIBARCHIVE_H
+#define _CREATE_INODE_LIBARCHIVE_H
+
+errcode_t __populate_fs_from_tar(ext2_filsys fs, ext2_ino_t root_ino,
+				 const char *source_tar, ext2_ino_t root,
+				 struct hdlinks_s *hdlinks,
+				 struct file_info *target,
+				 struct fs_ops_callbacks *fs_callbacks);
+
+#endif /* _CREATE_INODE_LIBARCHIVE_H */
diff --git a/misc/mke2fs.8.in b/misc/mke2fs.8.in
index 30f97bb5..744e9b11 100644
--- a/misc/mke2fs.8.in
+++ b/misc/mke2fs.8.in
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@  mke2fs \- create an ext2/ext3/ext4 file system
 ]
 [
 .B \-d
-.I root-directory
+.I root-directory|tarball
 ]
 [
 .B \-D
@@ -239,9 +239,11 @@  enabled.  (See the
 man page for more details about bigalloc.)   The default cluster size if
 bigalloc is enabled is 16 times the block size.
 .TP
-.BI \-d " root-directory"
-Copy the contents of the given directory into the root directory of the
-file system.
+.BI \-d " root-directory|tarball"
+Copy the contents of the given directory or tarball into the root directory of the
+file system. Tarball input is only available if mke2fs was compiled with
+libarchive support enabled and if the libarchive shared library is available
+at run-time. The special value "-" will read a tarball from standard input.
 .TP
 .B \-D
 Use direct I/O when writing to the disk.  This avoids mke2fs dirtying a
diff --git a/misc/mke2fs.c b/misc/mke2fs.c
index 4a9c1b09..4ffa9748 100644
--- a/misc/mke2fs.c
+++ b/misc/mke2fs.c
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@  static char *mount_dir;
 char *journal_device;
 static int sync_kludge;	/* Set using the MKE2FS_SYNC env. option */
 char **fs_types;
-const char *src_root_dir;  /* Copy files from the specified directory */
+const char *src_root;  /* Copy files from the specified directory or tarball */
 static char *undo_file;
 
 static int android_sparse_file; /* -E android_sparse */
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@  static void usage(void)
 	"[-C cluster-size]\n\t[-i bytes-per-inode] [-I inode-size] "
 	"[-J journal-options]\n"
 	"\t[-G flex-group-size] [-N number-of-inodes] "
-	"[-d root-directory]\n"
+	"[-d root-directory|tarball]\n"
 	"\t[-m reserved-blocks-percentage] [-o creator-os]\n"
 	"\t[-g blocks-per-group] [-L volume-label] "
 	"[-M last-mounted-directory]\n\t[-O feature[,...]] "
@@ -1712,7 +1712,7 @@  profile_error:
 			}
 			break;
 		case 'd':
-			src_root_dir = optarg;
+			src_root = optarg;
 			break;
 		case 'D':
 			direct_io = 1;
@@ -3551,12 +3551,12 @@  no_journal:
 	retval = mk_hugefiles(fs, device_name);
 	if (retval)
 		com_err(program_name, retval, "while creating huge files");
-	/* Copy files from the specified directory */
-	if (src_root_dir) {
+	/* Copy files from the specified directory or tarball */
+	if (src_root) {
 		if (!quiet)
 			printf("%s", _("Copying files into the device: "));
 
-		retval = populate_fs(fs, EXT2_ROOT_INO, src_root_dir,
+		retval = populate_fs(fs, EXT2_ROOT_INO, src_root,
 				     EXT2_ROOT_INO);
 		if (retval) {
 			com_err(program_name, retval, "%s",
diff --git a/tests/m_rootgnutar/expect b/tests/m_rootgnutar/expect
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5a241b6a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/m_rootgnutar/expect
@@ -0,0 +1,141 @@ 
+Creating regular file test.img
+Exit status is 0
+Filesystem volume name:   <none>
+Last mounted on:          <not available>
+Filesystem magic number:  0xEF53
+Filesystem revision #:    1 (dynamic)
+Filesystem features:      has_journal ext_attr resize_inode dir_index filetype extent 64bit flex_bg sparse_super huge_file dir_nlink extra_isize metadata_csum
+Default mount options:    (none)
+Filesystem state:         clean
+Errors behavior:          Continue
+Filesystem OS type:       Linux
+Inode count:              1024
+Block count:              16384
+Reserved block count:     819
+Overhead clusters:        1543
+Free blocks:              14791
+Free inodes:              1005
+First block:              1
+Block size:               1024
+Fragment size:            1024
+Group descriptor size:    64
+Reserved GDT blocks:      127
+Blocks per group:         8192
+Fragments per group:      8192
+Inodes per group:         512
+Inode blocks per group:   128
+Flex block group size:    16
+Mount count:              0
+Check interval:           15552000 (6 months)
+Reserved blocks uid:      0
+Reserved blocks gid:      0
+First inode:              11
+Inode size:	          256
+Required extra isize:     32
+Desired extra isize:      32
+Journal inode:            8
+Default directory hash:   half_md4
+Journal backup:           inode blocks
+Checksum type:            crc32c
+Journal features:         (none)
+Total journal size:       1024k
+Total journal blocks:     1024
+Max transaction length:   1024
+Fast commit length:       0
+Journal sequence:         0x00000001
+Journal start:            0
+
+
+Group 0: (Blocks 1-8192)
+  Primary superblock at 1, Group descriptors at 2-2
+  Reserved GDT blocks at 3-129
+  Block bitmap at 130 (+129)
+  Inode bitmap at 132 (+131)
+  Inode table at 134-261 (+133)
+  7753 free blocks, 493 free inodes, 5 directories, 493 unused inodes
+  Free blocks: 440-8192
+  Free inodes: 20-512
+Group 1: (Blocks 8193-16383) [INODE_UNINIT]
+  Backup superblock at 8193, Group descriptors at 8194-8194
+  Reserved GDT blocks at 8195-8321
+  Block bitmap at 131 (bg #0 + 130)
+  Inode bitmap at 133 (bg #0 + 132)
+  Inode table at 262-389 (bg #0 + 261)
+  7038 free blocks, 512 free inodes, 0 directories, 512 unused inodes
+  Free blocks: 9346-16383
+  Free inodes: 513-1024
+Exit status is 0
+debugfs: stat /test/emptyfile
+Inode: III   Type: regular    
+Size: 0
+Links: 1   Blockcount: 0
+Fragment:  Address: 0    Number: 0    Size: 0
+debugfs: stat /test/bigfile
+Inode: III   Type: regular    
+Size: 32768
+Links: 1   Blockcount: 64
+Fragment:  Address: 0    Number: 0    Size: 0
+debugfs: stat /test/zerofile
+Inode: III   Type: regular    
+Size: 1025
+Links: 1   Blockcount: 0
+Fragment:  Address: 0    Number: 0    Size: 0
+debugfs: stat /test/silly_bs_link
+Inode: III   Type: symlink    
+Size: 14
+Links: 1   Blockcount: 0
+Fragment:  Address: 0    Number: 0    Size: 0
+debugfs: stat /test/emptydir
+Inode: III   Type: directory    
+Size: 1024
+Links: 2   Blockcount: 2
+Fragment:  Address: 0    Number: 0    Size: 0
+debugfs: stat /test/dir
+Inode: III   Type: directory    
+Size: 1024
+Links: 2   Blockcount: 2
+Fragment:  Address: 0    Number: 0    Size: 0
+debugfs: stat /test/dir/file
+Inode: III   Type: regular    
+Size: 8
+Links: 1   Blockcount: 2
+Fragment:  Address: 0    Number: 0    Size: 0
+Exit status is 0
+debugfs: ex /test/emptyfile
+Level Entries       Logical      Physical Length Flags
+debugfs: ex /test/bigfile
+Level Entries       Logical      Physical Length Flags
+X 0/0 1/1 0-31 AAA-BBB 32 
+debugfs: ex /test/zerofile
+Level Entries       Logical      Physical Length Flags
+debugfs: ex /test/silly_bs_link
+/test/silly_bs_link: does not uses extent block maps
+debugfs: ex /test/emptydir
+Level Entries       Logical      Physical Length Flags
+X 0/0 1/1 0-0 AAA-BBB 1 
+debugfs: ex /test/dir
+Level Entries       Logical      Physical Length Flags
+X 0/0 1/1 0-0 AAA-BBB 1 
+debugfs: ex /test/dir/file
+Level Entries       Logical      Physical Length Flags
+X 0/0 1/1 0-0 AAA-BBB 1 
+Exit status is 0
+Exit status is 0
+Exit status is 0
+test/
+test/bigfile
+test/dir/
+test/dir/file
+test/emptydir/
+test/emptyfile
+test/silly_bs_link
+test/zerofile
+Exit status is 0
+Pass 1: Checking inodes, blocks, and sizes
+Pass 2: Checking directory structure
+Pass 3: Checking directory connectivity
+Pass 4: Checking reference counts
+Pass 5: Checking group summary information
+test.img: 19/1024 files (0.0% non-contiguous), 1593/16384 blocks
+Exit status is 0
+Exit status is 0
diff --git a/tests/m_rootgnutar/output.sed b/tests/m_rootgnutar/output.sed
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2e769678
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/m_rootgnutar/output.sed
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@ 
+s/^[[:space:]]*\([0-9]*\)\/[[:space:]]*\([0-9]*\)[[:space:]]*\([0-9]*\)\/[[:space:]]*\([0-9]*\)[[:space:]]*\([0-9]*\)[[:space:]]*-[[:space:]]*\([0-9]*\)[[:space:]]*[0-9]*[[:space:]]*-[[:space:]]*[0-9]*[[:space:]]*\([0-9]*\)/X \1\/\2 \3\/\4 \5-\6 AAA-BBB \7/g
+s/^[[:space:]]*\([0-9]*\)\/[[:space:]]*\([0-9]*\)[[:space:]]*\([0-9]*\)\/[[:space:]]*\([0-9]*\)[[:space:]]*\([0-9]*\)[[:space:]]*-[[:space:]]*\([0-9]*\)[[:space:]]*[0-9]*[[:space:]]*\([0-9]*\)/Y \1\/\2 \3\/\4 \5-\6 AAA \7/g
+s/Mode:.*$//g
+s/User:.*Size:/Size:/g
+s/^Inode: [0-9]*/Inode: III/g
diff --git a/tests/m_rootgnutar/script b/tests/m_rootgnutar/script
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3783da17
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/m_rootgnutar/script
@@ -0,0 +1,123 @@ 
+# vim: filetype=sh
+
+test_description="create fs image from GNU tarball"
+if ! test -x "$DEBUGFS_EXE"; then
+	echo "$test_name: $test_description: skipped (no debugfs)"
+	return 0
+fi
+if [ "$(grep -c 'define HAVE_ARCHIVE_H' ../lib/config.h)" -eq 0 ]; then
+	echo "$test_name: $test_description: skipped (no libarchive)"
+	exit 0
+fi
+
+MKFS_TAR="$TMPFILE.tar"
+MKFS_DIR="$TMPFILE.dir"
+OUT="$test_name.log"
+EXP="$test_dir/expect"
+
+# we put everything in a subdir because we cannot rdump the root as that would
+# require permissions to changing ownership of /lost+found
+rm -rf "$MKFS_DIR"
+mkdir -p "$MKFS_DIR/test"
+touch "$MKFS_DIR/test/emptyfile"
+dd if=/dev/zero bs=1024 count=32 2> /dev/null | tr '\0' 'a' > "$MKFS_DIR/test/bigfile"
+dd if=/dev/zero of="$MKFS_DIR/test/zerofile" bs=1 count=1 seek=1024 2> /dev/null
+ln -s /silly_bs_link "$MKFS_DIR/test/silly_bs_link"
+mkdir "$MKFS_DIR/test/emptydir"
+mkdir "$MKFS_DIR/test/dir"
+echo "will be overwritten" > "$MKFS_DIR/test/dir/file"
+
+# debugfs rdump does not preserve the timestamps when it extracts the
+# files so we ignore them by using tar --clamp-mtime
+# first write a partial tar
+tar --sort=name -C "$MKFS_DIR" --mtime="$DEBUGFS_EXE" --clamp-mtime --format=gnu -cf "$MKFS_TAR.dupl" test
+# now overwrite the contents of a file
+echo "Test me" > "$MKFS_DIR/test/dir/file"
+# and update the tar so that it contains two entries for the same file
+# we need this to test the code path that first unlinks and then overwrites an
+# existing file
+tar --sort=name -C "$MKFS_DIR" --mtime="$DEBUGFS_EXE" --clamp-mtime --format=gnu -rf "$MKFS_TAR.dupl" test/dir/file
+# also create a tarball of the directory with only one entry per file
+tar --sort=name -C "$MKFS_DIR" --mtime="$DEBUGFS_EXE" --clamp-mtime --format=gnu -cf "$MKFS_TAR.uniq" test
+rm -r "$MKFS_DIR"
+
+cat > "$TMPFILE.cmd1" << ENDL
+stat /test/emptyfile
+stat /test/bigfile
+stat /test/zerofile
+stat /test/silly_bs_link
+stat /test/emptydir
+stat /test/dir
+stat /test/dir/file
+ENDL
+
+cat > "$TMPFILE.cmd2" << ENDL
+ex /test/emptyfile
+ex /test/bigfile
+ex /test/zerofile
+ex /test/silly_bs_link
+ex /test/emptydir
+ex /test/dir
+ex /test/dir/file
+ENDL
+
+# Create two file systems, one for each tar that was created above. The
+# tarballs differ but should result in the same filesystem contents
+#
+for ext in uniq dupl; do
+	mkdir "$MKFS_DIR"
+	{
+		$MKE2FS -q -F -o Linux -T ext4 -O metadata_csum,64bit -E lazy_itable_init=1 -b 1024 -d "$MKFS_TAR.$ext" "$TMPFILE.$ext" 16384 2>&1;
+		echo Exit status is $?;
+		$DUMPE2FS "$TMPFILE.$ext" 2>&1;
+		echo Exit status is $?;
+		$DEBUGFS -f "$TMPFILE.cmd1" "$TMPFILE.$ext" 2>&1 | grep -E "(stat|Size:|Type:|Links:|Blockcount:)"
+		echo Exit status is $?;
+		$DEBUGFS -f "$TMPFILE.cmd2" "$TMPFILE.$ext" 2>&1;
+		echo Exit status is $?;
+		$DEBUGFS -R "dump /test/dir/file $TMPFILE.testme" "$TMPFILE.$ext" 2>&1;
+		echo Exit status is $?;
+		# extract the files and directories from the image and tar them
+		# again to make sure that a tarball from the image contents is
+		# bit-by-bit identical to the tarball the image was created
+		# from -- essentially this checks whether a roundtrip from tar
+		# to ext4 to tar remains identical
+		$DEBUGFS -R "rdump /test $MKFS_DIR" "$TMPFILE.$ext" 2>&1;
+		echo Exit status is $?;
+		# debugfs rdump does not preserve the timestamps when it extracts the
+		# files so we ignore them by using tar --clamp-mtime
+		tar --sort=name -C "$MKFS_DIR" --mtime="$DEBUGFS_EXE" --clamp-mtime --format=gnu -cvf "$TMPFILE.new.tar" test 2>&1;
+		echo Exit status is $?;
+		$FSCK -f -n "$TMPFILE.$ext" 2>&1;
+		echo Exit status is $?;
+		# independent from which tarball the ext4 image was created,
+		# the tarball created from the files in it should be bit-by-bit
+		# identical to the tarball without duplicate entries
+		cmp "$MKFS_TAR.uniq" "$TMPFILE.new.tar" 2>&1;
+		echo Exit status is $?;
+	} | sed -f "$cmd_dir/filter.sed" -f "$test_dir/output.sed" -e "s;$TMPFILE.$ext;test.img;" | {
+		# In the first pass, store the output and append to the log
+		# file. In the second pass, compare the output to the output
+		# to the one from the first.
+		case $ext in
+			uniq) tee "$TMPFILE.log" >> "$OUT";;
+			dupl) cmp - "$TMPFILE.log" >> "$OUT" 2>&1 || echo "cmp failed" >> "$OUT";;
+		esac
+	}
+	rm -r "$MKFS_DIR" "$TMPFILE.new.tar"
+done
+
+# Do the verification
+cmp -s "$OUT" "$EXP"
+status=$?
+
+if [ "$status" = 0 ] ; then
+	echo "$test_name: $test_description: ok"
+	touch "$test_name.ok"
+else
+	echo "$test_name: $test_description: failed"
+	diff $DIFF_OPTS "$EXP" "$OUT" > "$test_name.failed"
+fi
+
+rm -rf "$MKFS_TAR.dupl" "$MKFS_TAR.uniq" "$TMPFILE.cmd1" "$TMPFILE.cmd2" "$TMPFILE.log"
+unset MKFS_TAR MKFS_DIR OUT EXP
diff --git a/tests/m_rootpaxtar/expect b/tests/m_rootpaxtar/expect
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..54a2d4b6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/m_rootpaxtar/expect
@@ -0,0 +1,87 @@ 
+Filesystem volume name:   <none>
+Last mounted on:          <not available>
+Filesystem magic number:  0xEF53
+Filesystem revision #:    1 (dynamic)
+Filesystem features:      has_journal ext_attr resize_inode dir_index filetype extent 64bit flex_bg sparse_super huge_file dir_nlink extra_isize metadata_csum
+Default mount options:    (none)
+Filesystem state:         clean
+Errors behavior:          Continue
+Filesystem OS type:       Linux
+Inode count:              1024
+Block count:              16384
+Reserved block count:     819
+Overhead clusters:        1543
+Free blocks:              14827
+Free inodes:              1012
+First block:              1
+Block size:               1024
+Fragment size:            1024
+Group descriptor size:    64
+Reserved GDT blocks:      127
+Blocks per group:         8192
+Fragments per group:      8192
+Inodes per group:         512
+Inode blocks per group:   128
+Flex block group size:    16
+Mount count:              0
+Check interval:           15552000 (6 months)
+Reserved blocks uid:      0
+Reserved blocks gid:      0
+First inode:              11
+Inode size:	          256
+Required extra isize:     32
+Desired extra isize:      32
+Journal inode:            8
+Default directory hash:   half_md4
+Journal backup:           inode blocks
+Checksum type:            crc32c
+Journal features:         (none)
+Total journal size:       1024k
+Total journal blocks:     1024
+Max transaction length:   1024
+Fast commit length:       0
+Journal sequence:         0x00000001
+Journal start:            0
+
+
+Group 0: (Blocks 1-8192)
+  Primary superblock at 1, Group descriptors at 2-2
+  Reserved GDT blocks at 3-129
+  Block bitmap at 130 (+129)
+  Inode bitmap at 132 (+131)
+  Inode table at 134-261 (+133)
+  7789 free blocks, 500 free inodes, 2 directories, 500 unused inodes
+  Free blocks: 404-8192
+  Free inodes: 13-512
+Group 1: (Blocks 8193-16383) [INODE_UNINIT]
+  Backup superblock at 8193, Group descriptors at 8194-8194
+  Reserved GDT blocks at 8195-8321
+  Block bitmap at 131 (bg #0 + 130)
+  Inode bitmap at 133 (bg #0 + 132)
+  Inode table at 262-389 (bg #0 + 261)
+  7038 free blocks, 512 free inodes, 0 directories, 512 unused inodes
+  Free blocks: 9346-16383
+  Free inodes: 513-1024
+debugfs: stat /file
+Inode: III   Type: regular    
+Generation: 0    Version: 0x00000000:00000000
+Size: 0
+File ACL: 0
+Links: 1   Blockcount: 0
+Fragment:  Address: 0    Number: 0    Size: 0
+ ctime: 0x00000000:00000000 -- Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
+ atime: 0x00000000:00000000 -- Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
+ mtime: 0x00000000:00000000 -- Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
+Size of extra inode fields: 32
+Extended attributes:
+  security.capability (20) = 01 00 00 02 00 20 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 
+EXTENTS:
+debugfs: ea_list /file
+Extended attributes:
+  security.capability (20) = 01 00 00 02 00 20 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 
+Pass 1: Checking inodes, blocks, and sizes
+Pass 2: Checking directory structure
+Pass 3: Checking directory connectivity
+Pass 4: Checking reference counts
+Pass 5: Checking group summary information
+test.img: 12/1024 files (0.0% non-contiguous), 1557/16384 blocks
diff --git a/tests/m_rootpaxtar/mkpaxtar.pl b/tests/m_rootpaxtar/mkpaxtar.pl
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..9152828b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/m_rootpaxtar/mkpaxtar.pl
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@ 
+#!/usr/bin/env perl
+
+use strict;
+use warnings;
+
+my @entries = (
+    # filename            mode      type content
+    ['./PaxHeaders/file', oct(644), 'x', "57 SCHILY.xattr.security.capability=\x01\0\0\x02\0\x20\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\x0a"],
+    ['file',              oct(644), 0,   ''],
+);
+
+my $num_entries = 0;
+
+foreach my $file (@entries) {
+    my ( $fname, $mode, $type, $content) = @{$file};
+    my $entry = pack(
+        'a100 a8 a8 a8 a12 a12 A8 a1 a100 a6 a2 a32 a32 a8 a8 a155 x12',
+        $fname,
+        sprintf( '%07o',  $mode ),
+        sprintf( '%07o',  0 ), # uid
+        sprintf( '%07o',  0 ), # gid
+        sprintf( '%011o', length $content ), # size
+        sprintf( '%011o', 0 ), # mtime
+        '',                    # checksum
+        $type,
+        '',                    # linkname
+        "ustar",               # magic
+        "00",                  # version
+        '',                    # username
+        '',                    # groupname
+        '',                    # dev major
+        '',                    # dev minor
+        '',                    # prefix
+    );
+
+    # compute and insert checksum
+    substr( $entry, 148, 7 ) =
+      sprintf( "%06o\0", unpack( "%16C*", $entry ) );
+    print $entry;
+    $num_entries += 1;
+
+    if (length $content) {
+	print(pack 'a512', $content);
+	$num_entries += 1;
+    }
+}
+
+# https://www.gnu.org/software/tar/manual/html_node/Standard.html
+#
+# Physically, an archive consists of a series of file entries terminated by an
+# end-of-archive entry, which consists of two 512 blocks of zero bytes. At the
+# end of the archive file there are two 512-byte blocks filled with binary
+# zeros as an end-of-file marker.
+
+print(pack 'a512', '');
+print(pack 'a512', '');
+$num_entries += 2;
+
+# https://www.gnu.org/software/tar/manual/html_section/tar_76.html
+#
+# Some devices requires that all write operations be a multiple of a certain
+# size, and so, tar pads the archive out to the next record boundary.
+#
+# The default blocking factor is 20. With a block size of 512 bytes, we get a
+# record size of 10240.
+
+for (my $i = $num_entries; $i < 20; $i++) {
+    print(pack 'a512', '');
+}
diff --git a/tests/m_rootpaxtar/output.sed b/tests/m_rootpaxtar/output.sed
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2e769678
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/m_rootpaxtar/output.sed
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@ 
+s/^[[:space:]]*\([0-9]*\)\/[[:space:]]*\([0-9]*\)[[:space:]]*\([0-9]*\)\/[[:space:]]*\([0-9]*\)[[:space:]]*\([0-9]*\)[[:space:]]*-[[:space:]]*\([0-9]*\)[[:space:]]*[0-9]*[[:space:]]*-[[:space:]]*[0-9]*[[:space:]]*\([0-9]*\)/X \1\/\2 \3\/\4 \5-\6 AAA-BBB \7/g
+s/^[[:space:]]*\([0-9]*\)\/[[:space:]]*\([0-9]*\)[[:space:]]*\([0-9]*\)\/[[:space:]]*\([0-9]*\)[[:space:]]*\([0-9]*\)[[:space:]]*-[[:space:]]*\([0-9]*\)[[:space:]]*[0-9]*[[:space:]]*\([0-9]*\)/Y \1\/\2 \3\/\4 \5-\6 AAA \7/g
+s/Mode:.*$//g
+s/User:.*Size:/Size:/g
+s/^Inode: [0-9]*/Inode: III/g
diff --git a/tests/m_rootpaxtar/script b/tests/m_rootpaxtar/script
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..41dc7c38
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/m_rootpaxtar/script
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@ 
+# vim: filetype=sh
+
+test_description="create fs image from pax tarball with xattrs"
+if ! test -x $DEBUGFS_EXE; then
+	echo "$test_name: $test_description: skipped (no debugfs)"
+	return 0
+fi
+if [ "$(grep -c 'define HAVE_ARCHIVE_H' ../lib/config.h)" -eq 0 ]; then
+	echo "$test_name: skipped (no libarchive)"
+	exit 0
+fi
+
+OUT=$test_name.log
+EXP=$test_dir/expect
+
+perl $test_dir/mkpaxtar.pl \
+	| $MKE2FS -q -F -o Linux -T ext4 -O metadata_csum,64bit -E lazy_itable_init=1 -b 1024 -d - $TMPFILE 16384 > $OUT 2>&1
+
+$DUMPE2FS $TMPFILE >> $OUT 2>&1
+cat > $TMPFILE.cmd << ENDL
+stat /file
+ea_list /file
+ENDL
+$DEBUGFS -f $TMPFILE.cmd $TMPFILE 2>&1 | egrep -v '^(crtime|Inode checksum):' >> $OUT
+
+$FSCK -f -n $TMPFILE >> $OUT 2>&1
+
+sed -f $cmd_dir/filter.sed -f $test_dir/output.sed -e "s;$TMPFILE;test.img;" < $OUT > $OUT.tmp
+mv $OUT.tmp $OUT
+
+# Do the verification
+cmp -s $OUT $EXP
+status=$?
+
+if [ "$status" = 0 ] ; then
+	echo "$test_name: $test_description: ok"
+	touch $test_name.ok
+else
+        echo "$test_name: $test_description: failed"
+        diff $DIFF_OPTS $EXP $OUT > $test_name.failed
+fi
+
+rm -rf $TMPFILE.cmd
+unset OUT EXP
diff --git a/tests/m_roottar/expect b/tests/m_roottar/expect
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..78e86c55
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/m_roottar/expect
@@ -0,0 +1,208 @@ 
+Filesystem volume name:   <none>
+Last mounted on:          <not available>
+Filesystem magic number:  0xEF53
+Filesystem revision #:    1 (dynamic)
+Filesystem features:      has_journal ext_attr resize_inode dir_index filetype extent 64bit flex_bg sparse_super huge_file dir_nlink extra_isize metadata_csum
+Default mount options:    (none)
+Filesystem state:         clean
+Errors behavior:          Continue
+Filesystem OS type:       Linux
+Inode count:              1024
+Block count:              16384
+Reserved block count:     819
+Overhead clusters:        1543
+Free blocks:              14824
+Free inodes:              998
+First block:              1
+Block size:               1024
+Fragment size:            1024
+Group descriptor size:    64
+Reserved GDT blocks:      127
+Blocks per group:         8192
+Fragments per group:      8192
+Inodes per group:         512
+Inode blocks per group:   128
+Flex block group size:    16
+Mount count:              0
+Check interval:           15552000 (6 months)
+Reserved blocks uid:      0
+Reserved blocks gid:      0
+First inode:              11
+Inode size:	          256
+Required extra isize:     32
+Desired extra isize:      32
+Journal inode:            8
+Default directory hash:   half_md4
+Journal backup:           inode blocks
+Checksum type:            crc32c
+Journal features:         (none)
+Total journal size:       1024k
+Total journal blocks:     1024
+Max transaction length:   1024
+Fast commit length:       0
+Journal sequence:         0x00000001
+Journal start:            0
+
+
+Group 0: (Blocks 1-8192)
+  Primary superblock at 1, Group descriptors at 2-2
+  Reserved GDT blocks at 3-129
+  Block bitmap at 130 (+129)
+  Inode bitmap at 132 (+131)
+  Inode table at 134-261 (+133)
+  7786 free blocks, 486 free inodes, 5 directories, 486 unused inodes
+  Free blocks: 407-8192
+  Free inodes: 27-512
+Group 1: (Blocks 8193-16383) [INODE_UNINIT]
+  Backup superblock at 8193, Group descriptors at 8194-8194
+  Reserved GDT blocks at 8195-8321
+  Block bitmap at 131 (bg #0 + 130)
+  Inode bitmap at 133 (bg #0 + 132)
+  Inode table at 262-389 (bg #0 + 261)
+  7038 free blocks, 512 free inodes, 0 directories, 512 unused inodes
+  Free blocks: 9346-16383
+  Free inodes: 513-1024
+debugfs: stat /dev/
+Inode: III   Type: directory    
+Generation: 0    Version: 0x00000000:00000000
+Size: 1024
+File ACL: 0
+Links: 4   Blockcount: 2
+Fragment:  Address: 0    Number: 0    Size: 0
+Size of extra inode fields: 32
+EXTENTS:
+(0):404
+debugfs: stat /dev/console
+Inode: III   Type: character special    
+Generation: 0    Version: 0x00000000:00000000
+Size: 0
+File ACL: 0
+Links: 1   Blockcount: 0
+Fragment:  Address: 0    Number: 0    Size: 0
+Size of extra inode fields: 32
+Device major/minor number: 05:01 (hex 05:01)
+debugfs: stat /dev/fd
+Inode: III   Type: symlink    
+Generation: 0    Version: 0x00000000:00000000
+Size: 13
+File ACL: 0
+Links: 1   Blockcount: 0
+Fragment:  Address: 0    Number: 0    Size: 0
+Size of extra inode fields: 32
+Fast link dest: "/proc/self/fd"
+debugfs: stat /dev/full
+Inode: III   Type: character special    
+Generation: 0    Version: 0x00000000:00000000
+Size: 0
+File ACL: 0
+Links: 1   Blockcount: 0
+Fragment:  Address: 0    Number: 0    Size: 0
+Size of extra inode fields: 32
+Device major/minor number: 01:07 (hex 01:07)
+debugfs: stat /dev/null
+Inode: III   Type: character special    
+Generation: 0    Version: 0x00000000:00000000
+Size: 0
+File ACL: 0
+Links: 1   Blockcount: 0
+Fragment:  Address: 0    Number: 0    Size: 0
+Size of extra inode fields: 32
+Device major/minor number: 01:03 (hex 01:03)
+debugfs: stat /dev/ptmx
+Inode: III   Type: character special    
+Generation: 0    Version: 0x00000000:00000000
+Size: 0
+File ACL: 0
+Links: 1   Blockcount: 0
+Fragment:  Address: 0    Number: 0    Size: 0
+Size of extra inode fields: 32
+Device major/minor number: 05:02 (hex 05:02)
+debugfs: stat /dev/pts/
+Inode: III   Type: directory    
+Generation: 0    Version: 0x00000000:00000000
+Size: 1024
+File ACL: 0
+Links: 2   Blockcount: 2
+Fragment:  Address: 0    Number: 0    Size: 0
+Size of extra inode fields: 32
+EXTENTS:
+(0):405
+debugfs: stat /dev/random
+Inode: III   Type: character special    
+Generation: 0    Version: 0x00000000:00000000
+Size: 0
+File ACL: 0
+Links: 1   Blockcount: 0
+Fragment:  Address: 0    Number: 0    Size: 0
+Size of extra inode fields: 32
+Device major/minor number: 01:08 (hex 01:08)
+debugfs: stat /dev/shm/
+Inode: III   Type: directory    
+Generation: 0    Version: 0x00000000:00000000
+Size: 1024
+File ACL: 0
+Links: 2   Blockcount: 2
+Fragment:  Address: 0    Number: 0    Size: 0
+Size of extra inode fields: 32
+EXTENTS:
+(0):406
+debugfs: stat /dev/stderr
+Inode: III   Type: symlink    
+Generation: 0    Version: 0x00000000:00000000
+Size: 15
+File ACL: 0
+Links: 1   Blockcount: 0
+Fragment:  Address: 0    Number: 0    Size: 0
+Size of extra inode fields: 32
+Fast link dest: "/proc/self/fd/2"
+debugfs: stat /dev/stdin
+Inode: III   Type: symlink    
+Generation: 0    Version: 0x00000000:00000000
+Size: 15
+File ACL: 0
+Links: 1   Blockcount: 0
+Fragment:  Address: 0    Number: 0    Size: 0
+Size of extra inode fields: 32
+Fast link dest: "/proc/self/fd/0"
+debugfs: stat /dev/stdout
+Inode: III   Type: symlink    
+Generation: 0    Version: 0x00000000:00000000
+Size: 15
+File ACL: 0
+Links: 1   Blockcount: 0
+Fragment:  Address: 0    Number: 0    Size: 0
+Size of extra inode fields: 32
+Fast link dest: "/proc/self/fd/1"
+debugfs: stat /dev/tty
+Inode: III   Type: character special    
+Generation: 0    Version: 0x00000000:00000000
+Size: 0
+File ACL: 0
+Links: 1   Blockcount: 0
+Fragment:  Address: 0    Number: 0    Size: 0
+Size of extra inode fields: 32
+Device major/minor number: 05:00 (hex 05:00)
+debugfs: stat /dev/urandom
+Inode: III   Type: character special    
+Generation: 0    Version: 0x00000000:00000000
+Size: 0
+File ACL: 0
+Links: 1   Blockcount: 0
+Fragment:  Address: 0    Number: 0    Size: 0
+Size of extra inode fields: 32
+Device major/minor number: 01:09 (hex 01:09)
+debugfs: stat /dev/zero
+Inode: III   Type: character special    
+Generation: 0    Version: 0x00000000:00000000
+Size: 0
+File ACL: 0
+Links: 1   Blockcount: 0
+Fragment:  Address: 0    Number: 0    Size: 0
+Size of extra inode fields: 32
+Device major/minor number: 01:05 (hex 01:05)
+Pass 1: Checking inodes, blocks, and sizes
+Pass 2: Checking directory structure
+Pass 3: Checking directory connectivity
+Pass 4: Checking reference counts
+Pass 5: Checking group summary information
+test.img: 26/1024 files (0.0% non-contiguous), 1560/16384 blocks
diff --git a/tests/m_roottar/mktar.pl b/tests/m_roottar/mktar.pl
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3a555afe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/m_roottar/mktar.pl
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@ 
+#!/usr/bin/env perl
+
+use strict;
+use warnings;
+
+# type codes:
+#   0 -> normal file
+#   1 -> hardlink
+#   2 -> symlink
+#   3 -> character special
+#   4 -> block special
+#   5 -> directory
+my @devfiles = (
+    # filename  mode      type link target        major  minor
+    ["",        oct(755), 5,   '',                undef, undef],
+    ["console", oct(666), 3,   '',                5,     1],
+    ["fd",      oct(777), 2,   '/proc/self/fd',   undef, undef],
+    ["full",    oct(666), 3,   '',                1,     7],
+    ["null",    oct(666), 3,   '',                1,     3],
+    ["ptmx",    oct(666), 3,   '',                5,     2],
+    ["pts/",    oct(755), 5,   '',                undef, undef],
+    ["random",  oct(666), 3,   '',                1,     8],
+    ["shm/",    oct(755), 5,   '',                undef, undef],
+    ["stderr",  oct(777), 2,   '/proc/self/fd/2', undef, undef],
+    ["stdin",   oct(777), 2,   '/proc/self/fd/0', undef, undef],
+    ["stdout",  oct(777), 2,   '/proc/self/fd/1', undef, undef],
+    ["tty",     oct(666), 3,   '',                5,     0],
+    ["urandom", oct(666), 3,   '',                1,     9],
+    ["zero",    oct(666), 3,   '',                1,     5],
+);
+
+my $mtime = time;
+if (exists $ENV{SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH}) {
+    $mtime = $ENV{SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH} + 0;
+}
+
+foreach my $file (@devfiles) {
+    my ( $fname, $mode, $type, $linkname, $devmajor, $devminor ) = @{$file};
+    my $entry = pack(
+        'a100 a8 a8 a8 a12 a12 A8 a1 a100 a8 a32 a32 a8 a8 a155 x12',
+        "./dev/$fname",
+        sprintf( '%07o',  $mode ),
+        sprintf( '%07o',  0 ),        # uid
+        sprintf( '%07o',  0 ),        # gid
+        sprintf( '%011o', 0 ),        # size
+        sprintf( '%011o', $mtime ),
+        '',                           # checksum
+        $type,
+        $linkname,
+        "ustar  ",
+        '',                           # username
+        '',                           # groupname
+        defined($devmajor) ? sprintf( '%07o', $devmajor ) : '',
+        defined($devminor) ? sprintf( '%07o', $devminor ) : '',
+        '',                           # prefix
+    );
+
+    # compute and insert checksum
+    substr( $entry, 148, 7 ) =
+      sprintf( "%06o\0", unpack( "%16C*", $entry ) );
+    print $entry;
+}
diff --git a/tests/m_roottar/output.sed b/tests/m_roottar/output.sed
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2e769678
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/m_roottar/output.sed
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@ 
+s/^[[:space:]]*\([0-9]*\)\/[[:space:]]*\([0-9]*\)[[:space:]]*\([0-9]*\)\/[[:space:]]*\([0-9]*\)[[:space:]]*\([0-9]*\)[[:space:]]*-[[:space:]]*\([0-9]*\)[[:space:]]*[0-9]*[[:space:]]*-[[:space:]]*[0-9]*[[:space:]]*\([0-9]*\)/X \1\/\2 \3\/\4 \5-\6 AAA-BBB \7/g
+s/^[[:space:]]*\([0-9]*\)\/[[:space:]]*\([0-9]*\)[[:space:]]*\([0-9]*\)\/[[:space:]]*\([0-9]*\)[[:space:]]*\([0-9]*\)[[:space:]]*-[[:space:]]*\([0-9]*\)[[:space:]]*[0-9]*[[:space:]]*\([0-9]*\)/Y \1\/\2 \3\/\4 \5-\6 AAA \7/g
+s/Mode:.*$//g
+s/User:.*Size:/Size:/g
+s/^Inode: [0-9]*/Inode: III/g
diff --git a/tests/m_roottar/script b/tests/m_roottar/script
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..701e8c83
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/m_roottar/script
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@ 
+# vim: filetype=sh
+
+test_description="create fs image from tarball"
+if ! test -x "$DEBUGFS_EXE"; then
+	echo "$test_name: $test_description: skipped (no debugfs)"
+	return 0
+fi
+if [ "$(grep -c 'define HAVE_ARCHIVE_H' ../lib/config.h)" -eq 0 ]; then
+	echo "$test_name: skipped (no libarchive)"
+	exit 0
+fi
+
+OUT="$test_name.log"
+EXP="$test_dir/expect"
+
+perl "$test_dir/mktar.pl" \
+	| $MKE2FS -q -F -o Linux -T ext4 -O metadata_csum,64bit -E lazy_itable_init=1 -b 1024 -d - "$TMPFILE" 16384 > "$OUT" 2>&1
+
+$DUMPE2FS "$TMPFILE" >> "$OUT" 2>&1
+cat > "$TMPFILE.cmd" << 'ENDL'
+stat /dev/
+stat /dev/console
+stat /dev/fd
+stat /dev/full
+stat /dev/null
+stat /dev/ptmx
+stat /dev/pts/
+stat /dev/random
+stat /dev/shm/
+stat /dev/stderr
+stat /dev/stdin
+stat /dev/stdout
+stat /dev/tty
+stat /dev/urandom
+stat /dev/zero
+ENDL
+$DEBUGFS -f "$TMPFILE.cmd" "$TMPFILE" 2>&1 | grep -E -v "(time|checksum):" >> "$OUT"
+
+$FSCK -f -n "$TMPFILE" >> "$OUT" 2>&1
+
+sed -f "$cmd_dir/filter.sed" -f "$test_dir/output.sed" -e "s;$TMPFILE;test.img;" < "$OUT" > "$OUT.tmp"
+mv "$OUT.tmp" "$OUT"
+
+# Do the verification
+cmp -s "$OUT" "$EXP"
+status=$?
+
+if [ "$status" = 0 ] ; then
+	echo "$test_name: $test_description: ok"
+	touch "$test_name.ok"
+else
+	echo "$test_name: $test_description: failed"
+	diff $DIFF_OPTS "$EXP" "$OUT" > "$test_name.failed"
+fi
+
+rm -rf "$TMPFILE.cmd"
+unset OUT EXP