--- /usr/local/cpython-2.7/lib/python2.7/tarfile.py	2010-08-02 19:16:04.052791439 -0700
+++ tarfile.py	2010-11-07 20:03:06.882228669 -0800
@@ -1810,7 +1810,7 @@
         """
         return [tarinfo.name for tarinfo in self.getmembers()]
 
-    def gettarinfo(self, name=None, arcname=None, fileobj=None):
+    def gettarinfo(self, name=None, arcname=None, fileobj=None, statobj=None):
         """Create a TarInfo object for either the file `name' or the file
            object `fileobj' (using os.fstat on its file descriptor). You can
            modify some of the TarInfo's attributes before you add it using
@@ -1840,7 +1840,9 @@
 
         # Use os.stat or os.lstat, depending on platform
         # and if symlinks shall be resolved.
-        if fileobj is None:
+        if statobj is not None:
+            statres = statobj
+        elif fileobj is None:
             if hasattr(os, "lstat") and not self.dereference:
                 statres = os.lstat(name)
             else: