diff -Naur tar-1.13.17/src/buffer.c tar-1.13.17patched/src/buffer.c
--- tar-1.13.17/src/buffer.c	Fri Jan  7 23:33:43 2000
+++ tar-1.13.17patched/src/buffer.c	Tue Jan 16 11:33:43 2001
@@ -243,6 +243,41 @@
   return record_end->buffer - pointer->buffer;
 }
 
+/*----------------------------------------------------------------.
+| Read LENGTH bytes at BUFFER from archive ARCHIVE.               |
+| If read_full_records_option is set, retry to get all of them,   |
+| if necessary and if not at EOF.                                 |
+| Return the actual number of bytes read, zero for immediate EOF, |
+| or negative for an error.                                       |
+`----------------------------------------------------------------*/
+
+static ssize_t
+rmtread_full (int archive, char *buffer, size_t length)
+{
+  ssize_t status;		/* result from system call */
+  size_t bytes_in_buffer;	/* no. of bytes already in buffer */
+
+  if (!read_full_records_option)
+    return rmtread (archive, buffer, length);
+
+  bytes_in_buffer = 0;
+  while (length - bytes_in_buffer > 0)
+  {
+    status = rmtread (archive,
+                      &buffer[bytes_in_buffer],
+		      (length - bytes_in_buffer));
+    if (status < 0)
+      return status;
+    if (!status)
+    {
+      hit_eof = 1;
+      break;
+    }
+    bytes_in_buffer += status;
+  }
+  return bytes_in_buffer;
+}
+
 /*------------------------------------------------------------------.
 | Close file having descriptor FD, and abort if close unsuccessful. |
 `------------------------------------------------------------------*/
@@ -590,7 +625,7 @@
       read_error_count = 0;
 
     error_loop:
-      status = rmtread (archive, record_start->buffer, record_size);
+      status = rmtread_full (archive, record_start->buffer, record_size);
       if (status < 0)
 	{
 	  archive_read_error ();
@@ -992,10 +1027,36 @@
 
   bytes_written += status;
 
+  /* If we have a very small record size, i.e., 1*BLOCKSIZE or
+     2*BLOCKSIZE, which is less or equal the length of the volume
+     header, then we have not yet written any data from the buffer,
+     only part or all from the volume header. Therefore, we need to
+     write more records. After that, we know that no partial records
+     are left, and we set copy_back to 0. */
+  if (record_size <= copy_back * BLOCKSIZE)
+  {
+    while ((record_start += (record_size / BLOCKSIZE)) <= current_block)
+    {
+      status = write_archive_buffer ();
+      if (status != record_size)
+	archive_write_error (status);
+
+      bytes_written += status;
+    }
+    record_start -= (record_size / BLOCKSIZE);
+    copy_back = 0;
+  }
+
   if (copy_back)
     {
       record_start += copy_back;
-      memcpy (current_block,
+      /* If we had to write a header for a new volume, we have not yet
+         written the complete buffer. Move the according number of blocks
+	 to the front of the buffer, and adjust the current_block pointer
+	 accordingly. */
+      /* Use memmove instead of memcpy, since the memory areas might
+         overlap. */
+      memmove (current_block,
 	      record_start + blocking_factor - copy_back,
 	      copy_back * BLOCKSIZE);
       current_block += copy_back;
@@ -1110,7 +1171,7 @@
     }
 
  error_loop:
-  status = rmtread (archive, record_start->buffer, record_size);
+  status = rmtread_full (archive, record_start->buffer, record_size);
   if (status == record_size)
     return;
 
@@ -1138,7 +1199,7 @@
 	}
 
     vol_error:
-      status = rmtread (archive, record_start->buffer, record_size);
+      status = rmtread_full (archive, record_start->buffer, record_size);
       if (status < 0)
 	{
 	  archive_read_error ();
@@ -1165,7 +1226,16 @@
 	    }
 	  if (verbose_option)
 	    fprintf (stdlis, _("Reading %s\n"), quote (cursor->header.name));
-	  cursor++;
+	  if (++cursor >= record_end)
+	  { /* if the blocking factor is 1, we are already run out of data */
+	    while ((status = rmtread_full (archive,
+					   record_start->buffer,
+					   record_size)) < 0)
+	      archive_read_error ();
+	    if (status != record_size)
+	      goto short_read;
+	    cursor = record_start;
+	  }
 	}
       else if (volume_label_option)
 	WARN ((0, 0, _("WARNING: No volume header")));
@@ -1207,7 +1277,17 @@
 	      global_volno--;
 	      goto try_volume;
 	    }
-	  cursor++;
+	  if (++cursor >= record_end)
+	  { /* if the blocking factor is 1 or 2, we are already run out of
+	       data */
+	    while ((status = rmtread_full (archive,
+					   record_start->buffer,
+					   record_size)) < 0)
+	      archive_read_error ();
+	    if (status != record_size)
+	      goto short_read;
+	    cursor = record_start;
+	  }
 	}
       current_block = cursor;
       return;
@@ -1225,13 +1305,17 @@
   while (left % BLOCKSIZE != 0)
     {
       if (status)
-	while ((status = rmtread (archive, more, left)) < 0)
+	while ((status = rmtread_full (archive, more, left)) < 0)
 	  archive_read_error ();
 
       if (status == 0)
 	{
 	  ERROR ((0, 0, _("%d garbage bytes ignored at end of archive"),
 		  (int) ((record_size - left) % BLOCKSIZE)));
+	  /* When EOF occurs in this while loop, then the total number of
+	     bytes read is not necessarily zero. So we set the 
+	     corresponding flag here for safety, too. */
+	  hit_eof = 1;
 	  break;
 	}