Index: Lib/tarfile.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/tarfile.py	(revision 82729)
+++ Lib/tarfile.py	(working copy)
@@ -55,6 +55,13 @@
 except ImportError:
     grp = pwd = None
 
+def is_symlink_exception(e):
+    # AttributeError if no os.symlink
+    # NotImplementedError if on Windows XP
+    # WindowsError (1314) if the required privilege is not held by the client
+    return isinstance(e, (AttributeError, NotImplementedError)) or \
+           e.__class__.__name__ == 'WindowsError'
+
 # from tarfile import *
 __all__ = ["TarFile", "TarInfo", "is_tarfile", "TarError"]
 
@@ -2283,10 +2290,8 @@
                     os.link(tarinfo._link_target, targetpath)
                 else:
                     self._extract_mem
-        except (AttributeError, NotImplementedError, WindowsError):
-            # AttributeError if no os.symlink
-            # NotImplementedError if on Windows XP
-            # WindowsError (1314) if the required privilege is not held by the client
+        except Exception as e:
+            if not is_symlink_exception(e): raise
             if tarinfo.issym():
                 linkpath = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(tarinfo.name),tarinfo.linkname)
             else:
Index: Lib/test/test_posixpath.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/test/test_posixpath.py	(revision 82729)
+++ Lib/test/test_posixpath.py	(working copy)
@@ -208,6 +208,7 @@
     def test_samestat_on_links(self):
         test_fn1 = support.TESTFN + "1"
         test_fn2 = support.TESTFN + "2"
+        self._create_file(test_fn1)
         test_fns = (test_fn1, test_fn2)
         os.symlink(*test_fns)
         stats = map(os.stat, test_fns)