--- a/lib/decode.c	2013-10-09 09:59:44.000000000 -0700
+++ b/lib/decode.c	2015-07-20 20:57:58.331945962 -0700
@@ -21,24 +21,55 @@
 # include <string.h>
 #endif
 
+char *
+safer_name_suffix (char const *file_name)
+{
+       char const *p, *t;
+       p = t = file_name;
+       while (*p)
+       {
+               if (p[0] == '.' && p[0] == p[1] && p[2] == '/')
+               {
+                       p += 3;
+                       t = p;
+               }
+               /* advance pointer past the next slash */
+               while (*p && (p++)[0] != '/');
+       }
+
+       if (!*t)
+       {
+               t = ".";
+       }
+
+       if (t != file_name)
+       {
+               /* TODO: warn somehow that the path was modified */
+       }
+       return (char*)t;
+}
+
 
 /* determine full path name */
 char *
 th_get_pathname(TAR *t)
 {
 	static TLS_THREAD char filename[MAXPATHLEN];
+	char *safer_name;
 
 	if (t->th_buf.gnu_longname)
-		return t->th_buf.gnu_longname;
+               return safer_name_suffix(t->th_buf.gnu_longname);
+
+       safer_name = safer_name_suffix(t->th_buf.name);
 
 	if (t->th_buf.prefix[0] != '\0')
 	{
 		snprintf(filename, sizeof(filename), "%.155s/%.100s",
-			 t->th_buf.prefix, t->th_buf.name);
+			 t->th_buf.prefix, safer_name);
 		return filename;
 	}
 
-	snprintf(filename, sizeof(filename), "%.100s", t->th_buf.name);
+	snprintf(filename, sizeof(filename), "%.100s", safer_name);
 	return filename;
 }
 
--- a/lib/extract.c	2013-10-09 09:59:44.000000000 -0700
+++ b/lib/extract.c	2015-07-20 21:00:16.560956122 -0700
@@ -305,7 +305,7 @@
 		linktgt = &lnp[strlen(lnp) + 1];
 	}
 	else
-		linktgt = th_get_linkname(t);
+		linktgt = safer_name_suffix(th_get_linkname(t));
 
 #ifdef DEBUG
 	printf("  ==> extracting: %s (link to %s)\n", filename, linktgt);
@@ -343,9 +343,9 @@
 
 #ifdef DEBUG
 	printf("  ==> extracting: %s (symlink to %s)\n",
-	       filename, th_get_linkname(t));
+	       filename, safer_name_suffix(th_get_linkname(t)));
 #endif
-	if (symlink(th_get_linkname(t), filename) == -1)
+	if (symlink(safer_name_suffix(th_get_linkname(t)), filename) == -1)
 	{
 #ifdef DEBUG
 		perror("symlink()");
--- a/lib/internal.h	2013-10-09 09:59:44.000000000 -0700
+++ b/lib/internal.h	2015-07-20 21:00:51.258958673 -0700
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 
 #include <libtar.h>
 
+char* safer_name_suffix(char const*);
 #ifdef TLS
 #define TLS_THREAD TLS
 #else