Test case: mkdir dir >dir/a ln -s ../dir/a dir/b ln dir/b dir/c mkdir new tar cf - dir/* | tar -C new -xf - Expected result: Successful extraction. Actual result: tar: can't create hardlink 'dir/c' to 'dir/b': No such file or directory Re-tested with current master (2ccd3522816291bd7e3ede3f60370d725d86e179) I sent a patch for this to the mailing list on April 1 (after a botched attempt at a fix the day before) and followed up a few times: http://lists.busybox.net/pipermail/busybox/2018-April/086346.html I am submitting it as a bug now so that I do not have to keep pinging it.
Fixed in git.