diff -r c23659e2ec1a Lib/test/test_tarfile.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_tarfile.py	Mon Dec 10 11:12:57 2012 +0100
+++ b/Lib/test/test_tarfile.py	Mon Dec 10 12:58:20 2012 +0200
@@ -340,22 +340,16 @@
 
         try:
             tar.extract("ustar/regtype", TEMPDIR)
-            try:
-                tar.extract("ustar/lnktype", TEMPDIR)
-            except EnvironmentError as e:
-                if e.errno == errno.ENOENT:
-                    self.fail("hardlink not extracted properly")
+            self.addCleanup(os.remove, os.path.join(TEMPDIR, "ustar/regtype"))
 
+            tar.extract("ustar/lnktype", TEMPDIR)
+            self.addCleanup(os.remove, os.path.join(TEMPDIR, "ustar/lnktype"))
             with open(os.path.join(TEMPDIR, "ustar/lnktype"), "rb") as f:
                 data = f.read()
             self.assertEqual(md5sum(data), md5_regtype)
 
-            try:
-                tar.extract("ustar/symtype", TEMPDIR)
-            except EnvironmentError as e:
-                if e.errno == errno.ENOENT:
-                    self.fail("symlink not extracted properly")
-
+            tar.extract("ustar/symtype", TEMPDIR)
+            self.addCleanup(os.remove, os.path.join(TEMPDIR, "ustar/symtype"))
             with open(os.path.join(TEMPDIR, "ustar/symtype"), "rb") as f:
                 data = f.read()
             self.assertEqual(md5sum(data), md5_regtype)