Index: Doc/library/tarfile.rst
===================================================================
--- Doc/library/tarfile.rst	(Revision 85808)
+++ Doc/library/tarfile.rst	(Arbeitskopie)
@@ -335,12 +335,13 @@
       dots ``".."``.
 
 
-.. method:: TarFile.extract(member, path="")
+.. method:: TarFile.extract(member, path="", touch=True)
 
    Extract a member from the archive to the current working directory, using its
    full name. Its file information is extracted as accurately as possible. *member*
    may be a filename or a :class:`TarInfo` object. You can specify a different
-   directory using *path*.
+   directory using *path*. File attributes (owner, mtime, mode) are set unless
+   *touch* is False.
 
    .. note::
 
@@ -351,6 +352,8 @@
 
       See the warning for :meth:`extractall`.
 
+   .. versionchanged:: 3.2
+      Added the *touch* parameter.
 
 .. method:: TarFile.extractfile(member)
 
Index: Lib/tarfile.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/tarfile.py	(Revision 85808)
+++ Lib/tarfile.py	(Arbeitskopie)
@@ -2104,7 +2104,8 @@
                 directories.append(tarinfo)
                 tarinfo = copy.copy(tarinfo)
                 tarinfo.mode = 0o700
-            self.extract(tarinfo, path)
+            # Do not touch directories, as we will do that further down
+            self.extract(tarinfo, path, touch=not tarinfo.isdir())
 
         # Reverse sort directories.
         directories.sort(key=lambda a: a.name)
@@ -2123,11 +2124,12 @@
                 else:
                     self._dbg(1, "tarfile: %s" % e)
 
-    def extract(self, member, path=""):
+    def extract(self, member, path="", touch=True):
         """Extract a member from the archive to the current working directory,
            using its full name. Its file information is extracted as accurately
            as possible. `member' may be a filename or a TarInfo object. You can
-           specify a different directory using `path'.
+           specify a different directory using `path'. File attributes (owner,
+           mtime, mode) are set unless `touch' is False.
         """
         self._check("r")
 
@@ -2141,7 +2143,8 @@
             tarinfo._link_target = os.path.join(path, tarinfo.linkname)
 
         try:
-            self._extract_member(tarinfo, os.path.join(path, tarinfo.name))
+            self._extract_member(tarinfo, os.path.join(path, tarinfo.name),
+                                 touch=touch)
         except EnvironmentError as e:
             if self.errorlevel > 0:
                 raise
@@ -2194,7 +2197,7 @@
             # blkdev, etc.), return None instead of a file object.
             return None
 
-    def _extract_member(self, tarinfo, targetpath):
+    def _extract_member(self, tarinfo, targetpath, touch=True):
         """Extract the TarInfo object tarinfo to a physical
            file called targetpath.
         """
@@ -2231,10 +2234,11 @@
         else:
             self.makefile(tarinfo, targetpath)
 
-        self.chown(tarinfo, targetpath)
-        if not tarinfo.issym():
-            self.chmod(tarinfo, targetpath)
-            self.utime(tarinfo, targetpath)
+        if touch:
+            self.chown(tarinfo, targetpath)
+            if not tarinfo.issym():
+                self.chmod(tarinfo, targetpath)
+                self.utime(tarinfo, targetpath)
 
     #--------------------------------------------------------------------------
     # Below are the different file methods. They are called via
Index: Lib/test/test_tarfile.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/test/test_tarfile.py	(Revision 85809)
+++ Lib/test/test_tarfile.py	(Arbeitskopie)
@@ -349,6 +349,14 @@
         finally:
             tar.close()
 
+    def test_extract_directory(self):
+        dirtype = "ustar/dirtype"
+        with tarfile.open(tarname, encoding="iso8859-1") as tar:
+            tarinfo = tar.getmember(dirtype)
+            tar.extract(tarinfo)
+            self.assertEqual(os.path.getmtime(dirtype), tarinfo.mtime)
+            self.assertEqual(os.stat(dirtype).st_mode & 0o777, 0o755)
+
     def test_init_close_fobj(self):
         # Issue #7341: Close the internal file object in the TarFile
         # constructor in case of an error. For the test we rely on