Backports Tarfile

Warnings

• gotcha ImportError due to namespace package conflicts, particularly with `setuptools` versions (e.g., 71.0.0+). Users might encounter `ImportError: cannot import name 'tarfile' from 'backports'`.
  Fix: Ensure `backports-tarfile` is explicitly installed. Sometimes, temporarily downgrading `setuptools` or using conditional `pip install backports.tarfile` can resolve it.
• gotcha Security Vulnerabilities in Backported `tarfile` Extraction Filtering (pre-Python 3.12). The backported tarfile extraction filtering feature, intended for security, was incomplete and could introduce new security issues if projects switched from custom inspection to relying solely on these filters.
  Fix: Exercise caution when using extraction filtering on older Python versions. Always refer to CVE records for the most up-to-date security information and consider additional validation.
• gotcha Misunderstanding its purpose: This library is a backport. If your Python version natively includes the `tarfile` features you need, you should use the standard library's `tarfile` directly, rather than the backport, to avoid unnecessary dependencies or potential conflicts.
  Fix: Only install and use `backports.tarfile` if your Python runtime explicitly lacks the `tarfile` features you require and the backport provides them (e.g., specific compression algorithms or filters only available in newer Python stdlib versions). Use conditional imports (e.g., `if sys.version_info < (3, 14): from backports.zstd import tarfile`) if targeting a range of Python versions.

Install

• pip install backports-tarfile Install stable version

Imports

• tarfile

  from backports import tarfile

  Using `import tarfile` will only load the standard library's `tarfile` module. To access the backported features, you must import it from the `backports` namespace.

Quickstart

This example demonstrates how to create and extract a gzipped tar archive using the backported `tarfile` module. The API is identical to the standard library's `tarfile`.

import os
from backports import tarfile

# Create a dummy file
with open('example.txt', 'w') as f:
    f.write('Hello, backported tarfile!')

# Create a tar.gz archive
with tarfile.open('example.tar.gz', 'w:gz') as tar:
    tar.add('example.txt')

print('Archive created: example.tar.gz')

# Extract the archive
with tarfile.open('example.tar.gz', 'r:gz') as tar:
    tar.extractall(path='./extracted_archive')

print('Archive extracted to ./extracted_archive')

# Clean up
os.remove('example.txt')
os.remove('example.tar.gz')
os.remove('./extracted_archive/example.txt')
os.rmdir('./extracted_archive')