diff --git a/libtar/decode.c b/libtar/decode.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..383306d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libtar/decode.c
@@ -0,0 +1,122 @@
+/*
+**  Copyright 1998-2003 University of Illinois Board of Trustees
+**  Copyright 1998-2003 Mark D. Roth
+**  All rights reserved.
+**
+**  decode.c - libtar code to decode tar header blocks
+**
+**  Mark D. Roth <roth@uiuc.edu>
+**  Campus Information Technologies and Educational Services
+**  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
+*/
+
+#include <internal.h>
+
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <sys/param.h>
+#include <pwd.h>
+#include <grp.h>
+
+#ifdef STDC_HEADERS
+# include <string.h>
+#endif
+
+
+/* determine full path name */
+char *
+th_get_pathname(TAR *t)
+{
+	char filename[MAXPATHLEN];
+
+	if (t->th_buf.gnu_longname) {
+		printf("returning gnu longname\n");
+		return t->th_buf.gnu_longname;
+	}
+
+	if (t->th_buf.prefix[0] != '\0')
+	{
+		snprintf(filename, sizeof(filename), "%.155s/%.100s",
+			 t->th_buf.prefix, t->th_buf.name);
+		return strdup(filename);
+	}
+
+	snprintf(filename, sizeof(filename), "%.100s", t->th_buf.name);
+	return strdup(filename);
+}
+
+
+uid_t
+th_get_uid(TAR *t)
+{
+	int uid;
+	struct passwd *pw;
+
+	pw = getpwnam(t->th_buf.uname);
+	if (pw != NULL)
+		return pw->pw_uid;
+
+	/* if the password entry doesn't exist */
+	sscanf(t->th_buf.uid, "%o", &uid);
+	return uid;
+}
+
+
+gid_t
+th_get_gid(TAR *t)
+{
+	int gid;
+	struct group *gr;
+
+	gr = getgrnam(t->th_buf.gname);
+	if (gr != NULL)
+		return gr->gr_gid;
+
+	/* if the group entry doesn't exist */
+	sscanf(t->th_buf.gid, "%o", &gid);
+	return gid;
+}
+
+
+mode_t
+th_get_mode(TAR *t)
+{
+	mode_t mode;
+
+	mode = (mode_t)oct_to_int(t->th_buf.mode);
+	if (! (mode & S_IFMT))
+	{
+		switch (t->th_buf.typeflag)
+		{
+		case SYMTYPE:
+			mode |= S_IFLNK;
+			break;
+		case CHRTYPE:
+			mode |= S_IFCHR;
+			break;
+		case BLKTYPE:
+			mode |= S_IFBLK;
+			break;
+		case DIRTYPE:
+			mode |= S_IFDIR;
+			break;
+		case FIFOTYPE:
+			mode |= S_IFIFO;
+			break;
+		case AREGTYPE:
+			if (t->th_buf.name[strlen(t->th_buf.name) - 1] == '/')
+			{
+				mode |= S_IFDIR;
+				break;
+			}
+			/* FALLTHROUGH */
+		case LNKTYPE:
+		case REGTYPE:
+		default:
+			mode |= S_IFREG;
+		}
+	}
+
+	return mode;
+}
+
+