import os
import tarfile

open("message.txt", "w").write("hello world!")
os.symlink("message.txt", "symlink.txt")

with tarfile.open("test.tar", "w") as tf:
    tf.add("message.txt")
    tf.add("symlink.txt")

with tarfile.open("test.tar", "r|") as tf:
    tf.extractall()