diff -urpN tar-1.20.orig/src/create.c tar-1.20/src/create.c
--- tar-1.20.orig/src/create.c	2008-04-14 12:03:12 +0000
+++ tar-1.20/src/create.c	2008-12-23 12:18:20 +0000
@@ -1078,7 +1078,7 @@ dump_regular_file (int fd, struct tar_st
 			   size_left),
 		 quotearg_colon (st->orig_file_name),
 		 STRINGIFY_BIGINT (size_left, buf)));
-	  if (! ignore_failed_read_option) 
+	  if (! ignore_failed_read_option && exit_status == TAREXIT_SUCCESS) 
 	    exit_status = TAREXIT_DIFFERS;
 	  pad_archive (size_left - (bufsize - count));
 	  return dump_status_short;
@@ -1283,9 +1283,19 @@ create_archive (void)
 
       collect_and_sort_names ();
 
+      /* We assume that the collect_and_sort_names() call above has validated
+	 all filenames passed as input to tar.  In the calls to dump_file(),
+	 we don't know where each filename came from.  We choose to pass 0 for
+	 top_level such that tar does not unnecessarily exit with
+	 TAREXIT_FAILURE when a file in some deep directory disappears from
+	 under us.  Unfortunately, this also means that tar won't set this exit
+	 code for files that were actually at "top level", and were accessible
+	 when collect_and_sort_names() ran, but disappeared or turned out to be
+	 otherwise inaccessible for dump_file(). */
+
       while ((p = name_from_list ()) != NULL)
 	if (!excluded_name (p))
-	  dump_file (p, -1, (dev_t) 0);
+	  dump_file (p, 0, (dev_t) 0);
 
       blank_name_list ();
       while ((p = name_from_list ()) != NULL)
@@ -1315,7 +1325,7 @@ create_archive (void)
 			  buffer = xrealloc (buffer, buffer_size);
  			}
 		      strcpy (buffer + plen, q + 1);
-		      dump_file (buffer, -1, (dev_t) 0);
+		      dump_file (buffer, 0, (dev_t) 0);
 		    }
 		  q += qlen + 1;
 		}
@@ -1499,7 +1509,11 @@ dump_file0 (struct tar_stat_info *st, co
 
   if (deref_stat (dereference_option, p, &st->stat) != 0)
     {
-      stat_diag (p);
+      if (!top_level && errno == ENOENT)
+	WARN ((0, 0, _("%s: File removed before we read it"),
+	       quotearg_colon (p)));
+      else
+	stat_diag (p);
       return;
     }
   st->archive_file_size = original_size = st->stat.st_size;
@@ -1643,7 +1657,8 @@ dump_file0 (struct tar_stat_info *st, co
 	       : fstat (fd, &final_stat))
 	      != 0)
 	    {
-	      stat_diag (p);
+	      if (errno != ENOENT)
+		stat_diag (p);
 	      ok = false;
 	    }
 	}
@@ -1700,7 +1715,11 @@ dump_file0 (struct tar_stat_info *st, co
       size = readlink (p, buffer, linklen + 1);
       if (size < 0)
 	{
-	  readlink_diag (p);
+	  if (!top_level && errno == ENOENT)
+	    WARN ((0, 0, _("%s: File removed before we read it"),
+		   quotearg_colon (p)));
+	  else
+	    readlink_diag (p);
 	  return;
 	}
       buffer[size] = '\0';
diff -urpN tar-1.20.orig/src/incremen.c tar-1.20/src/incremen.c
--- tar-1.20.orig/src/incremen.c	2008-04-14 12:03:13 +0000
+++ tar-1.20/src/incremen.c	2008-12-23 12:10:22 +0000
@@ -347,7 +347,10 @@ update_parent_directory (const char *nam
     {
       struct stat st;
       if (deref_stat (dereference_option, p, &st) != 0)
-	stat_diag (name);
+	{
+	  if (errno != ENOENT)
+	    stat_diag (name);
+	}
       else
 	directory->mtime = get_stat_mtime (&st);
     }
@@ -597,7 +600,8 @@ scan_directory (char *dir, dev_t device)
 
   if (deref_stat (dereference_option, name_buffer, &stat_data))
     {
-      stat_diag (name_buffer);
+      if (errno != ENOENT)
+	stat_diag (name_buffer);
       /* FIXME: used to be
            children = CHANGED_CHILDREN;
 	 but changed to: */
@@ -639,7 +643,8 @@ scan_directory (char *dir, dev_t device)
 	    {
 	      if (deref_stat (dereference_option, name_buffer, &stat_data))
 		{
-		  stat_diag (name_buffer);
+		  if (errno != ENOENT)
+		    stat_diag (name_buffer);
 		  *entry = 'N';
 		  continue;
 		}