my $tar = Archive::Tar->new; add_to_tar($tar, $thing_to_add, $base_dir); $tar->write($gz, 9); #### add_to_tar($tar, 'baz', '/foo/bar'); #### add_to_tar($tar, '/foo/bar/baz', '/foo/bar'); #### sub add_to_tar { my($tar, $thing, $base) = @_; if (defined $base) { chdir $base or die "Can't chdir to $base: $!"; $thing =~ s!^$base/?!!; } if (-f $thing) { $tar->add_files($thing); } elsif (-d $thing) { my $code = sub { return if !-f $_; local *FH; open FH, $_ or die "Can't open $_: $!"; binmode FH; my $c = do { local $/; }; close FH or die "Can't close $_: $!"; $tar->add_data($File::Find::name, $c); }; find $code, $thing; } }