--- tar-1.22/src/incremen.c	2008-12-29 18:18:00.000000000 -0500
+++ tar-1.22patched/src/incremen.c	2009-03-23 16:41:44.262611461 -0400
@@ -1073,7 +1073,9 @@
   errno = 0;
   *pval = strtoimax (buf, &ep, 10);
   if (c || errno || *pval < min_val)
-    FATAL_ERROR ((0, errno, _("Unexpected field value in snapshot file")));
+    FATAL_ERROR ((0, errno, 
+                  _("Unexpected field value in snapshot file: \"%s\""),
+		  buf));
 }
 
 /* Read from file FP a nul-terminated string and convert it to
@@ -1113,7 +1115,9 @@
   errno = 0;
   *pval = strtoumax (buf, &ep, 10);
   if (c || errno || max_val < *pval)
-    FATAL_ERROR ((0, errno, _("Unexpected field value in snapshot file")));
+    FATAL_ERROR ((0, errno, 
+                  _("Unexpected field value in snapshot file: \"%s\""),
+		  buf));
   return c;
 }
 
@@ -1293,6 +1297,30 @@
     free (buf);
 }
 
+/* Write a timespec out to the snapshot file, issuing a warning if
+   the values are out of range (i.e. if they would cause an error
+   when the file is being parsed by read_timespec() ).
+*/
+void
+write_timespec (FILE *fp, struct timespec ts, const char *dirname )
+{
+  char buf[UINTMAX_STRSIZE_BOUND];
+  char *s;
+
+  s = (TYPE_SIGNED (time_t)
+       ? imaxtostr (ts.tv_sec, buf)
+       : umaxtostr (ts.tv_sec, buf));
+  fwrite (s, strlen (s) + 1, 1, fp);
+  s = umaxtostr (ts.tv_nsec, buf);
+  /* depending on the data type of tv_nsec, an invalid value could
+     appear to be negative or too large; either case is an error. */
+  if (ts.tv_nsec < 0 || ts.tv_nsec > BILLION -1) 
+    WARN ((0, 0, 
+           _("Invalid timestamp nsec value \"%s\" found for entry \"%s\""),
+           s, dirname));
+  fwrite (s, strlen (s) + 1, 1, fp);
+}
+
 /* Output incremental data for the directory ENTRY to the file DATA.
    Return nonzero if successful, preserving errno on write failure.  */
 static bool
@@ -1308,12 +1336,7 @@
 
       s = DIR_IS_NFS (directory) ? "1" : "0";
       fwrite (s, 2, 1, fp);
-      s = (TYPE_SIGNED (time_t)
-	   ? imaxtostr (directory->mtime.tv_sec, buf)
-	   : umaxtostr (directory->mtime.tv_sec, buf));
-      fwrite (s, strlen (s) + 1, 1, fp);
-      s = umaxtostr (directory->mtime.tv_nsec, buf);
-      fwrite (s, strlen (s) + 1, 1, fp);
+      write_timespec(fp, directory->mtime, directory->name);
       s = umaxtostr (directory->device_number, buf);
       fwrite (s, strlen (s) + 1, 1, fp);
       s = umaxtostr (directory->inode_number, buf);
@@ -1341,8 +1364,6 @@
 write_directory_file (void)
 {
   FILE *fp = listed_incremental_stream;
-  char buf[UINTMAX_STRSIZE_BOUND];
-  char *s;
 
   if (! fp)
     return;
@@ -1355,12 +1376,7 @@
   fprintf (fp, "%s-%s-%d\n", PACKAGE_NAME, PACKAGE_VERSION,
 	   TAR_INCREMENTAL_VERSION);
 
-  s = (TYPE_SIGNED (time_t)
-       ? imaxtostr (start_time.tv_sec, buf)
-       : umaxtostr (start_time.tv_sec, buf));
-  fwrite (s, strlen (s) + 1, 1, fp);
-  s = umaxtostr (start_time.tv_nsec, buf);
-  fwrite (s, strlen (s) + 1, 1, fp);
+  write_timespec(fp, start_time, "tar execution start_time");
 
   if (! ferror (fp) && directory_table)
     hash_do_for_each (directory_table, write_directory_file_entry, fp);