diff --git a/scripts/xsparse.c b/scripts/xsparse.c
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2728bbce
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/xsparse.c
@@ -0,0 +1,469 @@
+/* xsparse - expands compressed sparse file images extracted from GNU tar
+   archives.
+
+   Copyright (C) 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+
+   Written by Sergey Poznyakoff
+   
+   This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+   under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
+   Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option) any later
+   version.
+
+   This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
+   WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+   MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General
+   Public License for more details.
+
+   You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
+   with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
+   51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.  */
+
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <stdarg.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
+#include <getopt.h>
+#include <fcntl.h>
+#include <sys/stat.h>
+#include <limits.h>
+#include <errno.h>
+
+/* Bound on length of the string representing an off_t.
+   See INT_STRLEN_BOUND in intprops.h for explanation */
+#define OFF_T_STRLEN_BOUND ((sizeof (off_t) * CHAR_BIT) * 146 / 485 + 1)
+#define OFF_T_STRSIZE_BOUND (OFF_T_STRLEN_BOUND+1)
+
+#define BLOCKSIZE 512
+
+struct sp_array
+{
+  off_t offset;
+  size_t numbytes;
+};
+
+char *progname;
+int verbose;
+
+void
+die (int code, char *fmt, ...)
+{
+  va_list ap;
+
+  fprintf (stderr, "%s: ", progname);
+  va_start (ap, fmt);
+  vfprintf (stderr, fmt, ap);
+  va_end (ap);
+  fprintf (stderr, "\n");
+  exit (code);
+}
+
+void *
+emalloc (size_t size)
+{
+  char *p = malloc (size);
+  if (!p)
+    die (1, "not enough memory");
+  return p;
+}
+
+off_t
+string_to_off (char *p, char **endp)
+{
+  off_t v = 0;
+
+  for (; *p; p++)
+    {
+      int digit = *p - '0';
+      off_t x = v * 10;
+      if (9 < (unsigned) digit)
+	{
+	  if (endp)
+	    {
+	      *endp = p;
+	      break;
+	    }
+	  die (1, "number parse error near %s", p);
+	}
+      else if (x / 10 != v)
+	die (1, "number out of allowed range, near %s", p);
+      v = x + digit;
+      if (v < 0)
+	die (1, "negative number");
+    }
+  if (endp)
+    *endp = p;
+  return v;
+}
+
+size_t
+string_to_size (char *p, char **endp)
+{
+  off_t v = string_to_off (p, endp);
+  size_t ret = v;
+  if (ret != v)
+    die (1, "number too big");
+  return ret;
+}
+
+size_t sparse_map_size;
+struct sp_array *sparse_map;
+
+void
+get_line (char *s, int size, FILE *stream)
+{
+  char *p = fgets (s, size, stream);
+  size_t len;
+
+  if (!p)
+    die (1, "unexpected end of file");
+  len = strlen (p);
+  if (s[len - 1] != '\n')
+    die (1, "buffer overflow");
+  s[len - 1] = 0;
+}
+
+int
+get_var (FILE *fp, char **name, char **value)
+{
+  static char *buffer;
+  static size_t bufsize = OFF_T_STRSIZE_BOUND;
+  char *p, *q;
+  
+  buffer = emalloc (bufsize);
+  do
+    {
+      size_t len, s;
+      
+      if (!fgets (buffer, bufsize, fp))
+	return 0;
+      len = strlen (buffer);
+      if (len == 0)
+	return 0;
+
+      s = string_to_size (buffer, &p);
+      if (*p != ' ')
+	die (1, "malformed header: expected space but found %s", p);
+      if (buffer[len-1] != '\n')
+	{
+	  if (bufsize < s + 1)
+	    {
+	      bufsize = s + 1;
+	      buffer = realloc (buffer, bufsize);
+	      if (!buffer)
+		die (1, "not enough memory");
+	    }
+	  if (!fgets (buffer + len, s - len + 1, fp))
+	    die (1, "unexpected end of file or read error");
+	}
+      p++;
+    }
+  while (memcmp (p, "GNU.sparse.", 11));
+
+  p += 11;
+  q = strchr (p, '=');
+  if (!q)
+    die (1, "malformed header: expected `=' not found");
+  *q++ = 0;
+  q[strlen (q) - 1] = 0;
+  *name = p;
+  *value = q;
+  return 1;
+}
+
+char *outname;
+off_t outsize;
+unsigned version_major;
+unsigned version_minor;
+
+void
+read_xheader (char *name)
+{
+  char *kw, *val;
+  FILE *fp = fopen (name, "r");
+  char *expect = NULL;
+  size_t i = 0;
+
+  if (verbose)
+    printf ("Reading extended header file\n");
+  
+  while (get_var (fp, &kw, &val))
+    {
+      if (verbose)
+	printf ("Found variable GNU.sparse.%s = %s\n", kw, val);
+      
+      if (expect && strcmp (kw, expect))
+	die (1, "bad keyword sequence: expected `%s' but found `%s'",
+	     expect, kw);
+      expect = NULL;
+      if (strcmp (kw, "name") == 0)
+	{
+	  outname = emalloc (strlen (val) + 1);
+	  strcpy (outname, val);
+	}
+      else if (strcmp (kw, "major") == 0)
+	{
+	  version_major = string_to_size (val, NULL);
+	}
+      else if (strcmp (kw, "minor") == 0)
+	{
+	  version_minor = string_to_size (val, NULL);
+	}
+      else if (strcmp (kw, "realsize") == 0
+	       || strcmp (kw, "size") == 0)
+	{
+	  outsize = string_to_off (val, NULL);
+	}
+      else if (strcmp (kw, "numblocks") == 0)
+	{
+	  sparse_map_size = string_to_size (val, NULL);
+	  sparse_map = emalloc (sparse_map_size * sizeof *sparse_map);
+	}
+      else if (strcmp (kw, "offset") == 0)
+	{
+	  sparse_map[i].offset = string_to_off (val, NULL);
+	  expect = "numbytes";
+	}
+      else if (strcmp (kw, "numbytes") == 0)
+	{
+	  sparse_map[i++].numbytes = string_to_size (val, NULL);
+	}
+      else if (strcmp (kw, "map") == 0)
+	{
+	  for (i = 0; i < sparse_map_size; i++)
+	    {
+	      sparse_map[i].offset = string_to_off (val, &val);
+	      if (*val != ',')
+		die (1, "bad GNU.sparse.map: expected `,' but found `%c'",
+		     *val);
+	      sparse_map[i].numbytes = string_to_size (val+1, &val);
+	      if (*val != ',')
+		{
+		  if (!(*val == 0 && i == sparse_map_size-1))
+		    die (1, "bad GNU.sparse.map: expected `,' but found `%c'",
+			 *val);
+		}
+	      else
+		val++;
+	    }
+	  if (*val)
+	    die (1, "bad GNU.sparse.map: garbage at the end");
+	}
+    }
+  if (expect)
+    die (1, "bad keyword sequence: expected `%s' not found", expect);
+  if (version_major == 0 && sparse_map_size == 0)
+    die (1, "size of the sparse map unknown");
+  if (i != sparse_map_size)
+    die (1, "not all sparse entries supplied");
+  fclose (fp);
+}
+
+void
+read_map (FILE *ifp)
+{
+  size_t i;
+  char nbuf[OFF_T_STRSIZE_BOUND];
+
+  if (verbose)
+    printf ("Reading v.1.0 sparse map\n");
+  
+  get_line (nbuf, sizeof nbuf, ifp);
+  sparse_map_size = string_to_size (nbuf, NULL);
+  sparse_map = emalloc (sparse_map_size * sizeof *sparse_map);
+
+  for (i = 0; i < sparse_map_size; i++)
+    {
+      get_line (nbuf, sizeof nbuf, ifp);
+      sparse_map[i].offset = string_to_off (nbuf, NULL);
+      get_line (nbuf, sizeof nbuf, ifp);
+      sparse_map[i].numbytes = string_to_size (nbuf, NULL);
+    }
+
+  fseek (ifp, ((ftell (ifp) + BLOCKSIZE - 1) / BLOCKSIZE) * BLOCKSIZE,
+	 SEEK_SET);
+}  
+
+void
+expand_sparse (FILE *sfp, int ofd)
+{
+  size_t i;
+  size_t maxbytes = 0;
+  char *buffer;
+
+  for (i = 0; i < sparse_map_size; i++)
+    if (maxbytes < sparse_map[i].numbytes)
+      maxbytes = sparse_map[i].numbytes;
+  
+  for (buffer = malloc (maxbytes); !buffer; maxbytes /= 2)
+    if (maxbytes == 0)
+      die (1, "not enough memory");
+  
+  for (i = 0; i < sparse_map_size; i++)
+    {
+      size_t size = sparse_map[i].numbytes;
+
+      lseek (ofd, sparse_map[i].offset, SEEK_SET);
+      while (size)
+	{
+	  size_t rdsize = (size < maxbytes) ? size : maxbytes;
+	  if (rdsize != fread (buffer, 1, rdsize, sfp))
+	    die (1, "read error (%d)", errno);
+	  if (rdsize != write (ofd, buffer, rdsize))
+	    die (1, "write error (%d)", errno);
+	  size -= rdsize;
+	}
+    }
+  free (buffer);
+}
+
+void
+usage (int code)
+{
+  printf ("Usage: %s [OPTIONS] infile [outfile]\n", progname);
+  printf ("%s: expand sparse files extracted from GNU archives\n",
+	  progname);
+  printf ("\nOPTIONS are:\n\n");
+  printf ("  -h           Display this help list\n");
+  printf ("  -n           Dry run: do nothing, print what would have been done\n");
+  printf ("  -v           Increase verbosity level\n");
+  printf ("  -x FILE      Parse extended header FILE\n\n");
+
+  exit (code);
+}
+
+void
+guess_outname (char *name)
+{
+  char *p;
+  char *s;
+  
+  if (name[0] == '.' && name[1] == '/')
+    name += 2;
+
+  p = name + strlen (name) - 1;
+  s = NULL;
+      
+  for (; p > name && *p != '/'; p--)
+    ;
+  if (*p == '/')
+    s = p + 1;
+  if (p != name)
+    {
+      for (p--; p > name && *p != '/'; p--)
+	;
+    }
+  
+  if (*p != '/')
+    {
+      if (s)
+	outname = s;
+      else
+	{
+	  outname = emalloc (4 + strlen (name));
+	  strcpy (outname, "../");
+	  strcpy (outname + 3, name);
+	}
+    }
+  else
+    {
+      size_t len = p - name + 1;
+      outname = emalloc (len + strlen (s) + 1);
+      memcpy (outname, name, len);
+      strcpy (outname + len, s);
+    }
+}
+
+int
+main (int argc, char **argv)
+{
+  int c;
+  int dry_run = 0;
+  char *xheader_file = NULL;
+  char *inname;
+  FILE *ifp;
+  struct stat st;
+  int ofd;
+  
+  progname = argv[0];
+  while ((c = getopt (argc, argv, "hnvx:")) != EOF)
+    {
+      switch (c)
+	{
+	case 'h':
+	  usage (0);
+	  break;
+
+	case 'x':
+	  xheader_file = optarg;
+	  break;
+
+	case 'n':
+	  dry_run = 1;
+	case 'v':
+	  verbose++;
+	  break;
+	  
+	default:
+	  exit (1);
+	}
+    }
+
+  argc -= optind;
+  argv += optind;
+
+  if (argc == 0 || argc > 2)
+    usage (1);
+
+  if (xheader_file)
+    read_xheader (xheader_file);
+
+  inname = argv[0];
+  if (argv[1])
+    outname = argv[1];
+
+  if (stat (inname, &st))
+    die (1, "cannot stat %s (%d)", inname, errno);
+  
+  ifp = fopen (inname, "r");
+  if (ifp == NULL)
+    die (1, "cannot open file %s (%d)", inname, errno);
+  
+  if (!xheader_file || version_major == 1)
+    read_map (ifp);
+
+  if (!outname)
+    guess_outname (inname);
+  
+  ofd = open (outname, O_RDWR|O_CREAT|O_TRUNC, st.st_mode);
+  if (ofd == -1)
+    die (1, "cannot open file %s (%d)", outname, errno);
+
+  if (verbose)
+    printf ("Expanding file `%s' to `%s'\n", inname, outname);
+
+  if (dry_run)
+    {
+      printf ("Finished dry run\n");
+      return 0;
+    }
+  
+  expand_sparse (ifp, ofd);
+
+  fclose (ifp);
+  close (ofd);
+
+  if (verbose)
+    printf ("Done\n");
+  
+  if (outsize)
+    {
+      if (stat (outname, &st))
+	die (1, "cannot stat output file %s (%d)", outname, errno);
+      if (st.st_size != outsize)
+	die (1, "expanded file has wrong size");
+    }
+  
+  return 0;
+}
+