diff -pru tar-1.13/src/common.h tar-1.13-save-dir-metadata/src/common.h
--- tar-1.13/src/common.h	1999-07-07 08:07:30.000000000 +0200
+++ tar-1.13-save-dir-metadata/src/common.h	2008-09-30 19:13:47.000000000 +0200
@@ -193,6 +193,9 @@ GLOBAL int multi_volume_option;
 GLOBAL time_t newer_mtime_option;
 
 /* Boolean value.  */
+GLOBAL int no_overwrite_dir_option;
+
+/* Boolean value.  */
 GLOBAL int no_recurse_option;
 
 /* Boolean value.  */
diff -pru tar-1.13/src/extract.c tar-1.13-save-dir-metadata/src/extract.c
--- tar-1.13/src/extract.c	1999-07-02 23:24:36.000000000 +0200
+++ tar-1.13-save-dir-metadata/src/extract.c	2008-09-30 19:13:47.000000000 +0200
@@ -885,7 +885,14 @@ Attempting extraction of symbolic links 
 	      int saved_errno = errno;
 
 	      if (stat (CURRENT_FILE_NAME, &st1) == 0 && S_ISDIR (st1.st_mode))
-		goto check_perms;
+		if (no_overwrite_dir_option)
+		  {
+		    break;
+		  }
+		else
+		  {
+		    goto check_perms;
+		  }
 
 	      errno = saved_errno; /* FIXME: errno should be read-only */
 	    }
diff -pru tar-1.13/src/tar.c tar-1.13-save-dir-metadata/src/tar.c
--- tar-1.13/src/tar.c	1999-07-07 07:49:50.000000000 +0200
+++ tar-1.13-save-dir-metadata/src/tar.c	2008-09-30 19:13:47.000000000 +0200
@@ -204,6 +204,7 @@ struct option long_options[] =
   {"newer", required_argument, NULL, 'N'},
   {"newer-mtime", required_argument, NULL, NEWER_MTIME_OPTION},
   {"null", no_argument, NULL, NULL_OPTION},
+  {"no-overwrite-dir", no_argument, &no_overwrite_dir_option, 1},
   {"no-recursion", no_argument, NULL, NO_RECURSE_OPTION},
   {"numeric-owner", no_argument, &numeric_owner_option, 1},
   {"old-archive", no_argument, NULL, 'o'},
@@ -288,6 +289,7 @@ Operation modifiers:\n\
   -W, --verify               attempt to verify the archive after writing it\n\
       --remove-files         remove files after adding them to the archive\n\
   -k, --keep-old-files       don't overwrite existing files when extracting\n\
+      --no-overwrite-dir     preserve metadata of existing directories\n\
   -U, --unlink-first         remove each file prior to extracting over it\n\
       --recursive-unlink     empty hierarchies prior to extracting directory\n\
   -S, --sparse               handle sparse files efficiently\n\