diff --git a/src/backend/replication/basebackup.c b/src/backend/replication/basebackup.c
index 3058ce921b0..3563fd997fd 100644
--- a/src/backend/replication/basebackup.c
+++ b/src/backend/replication/basebackup.c
@@ -1258,11 +1258,30 @@ _tarWriteHeader(const char *filename, const char *linktarget,
 				struct stat * statbuf)
 {
 	char		h[512];
+	enum tarError rc;
 
-	tarCreateHeader(h, filename, linktarget, statbuf->st_size,
+	rc = tarCreateHeader(h, filename, linktarget, statbuf->st_size,
 					statbuf->st_mode, statbuf->st_uid, statbuf->st_gid,
 					statbuf->st_mtime);
 
+	switch (rc)
+	{
+		case TAR_OK:
+			break;
+		case TAR_NAME_TOO_LONG:
+			ereport(ERROR,
+					(errmsg("file name too long for tar format: \"%s\"",
+							filename)));
+			break;
+		case TAR_SYMLINK_TOO_LONG:
+			ereport(ERROR,
+					(errmsg("symbolic link target too long for tar format: file name \"%s\", target \"%s\"",
+							filename, linktarget)));
+			break;
+		default:
+			elog(ERROR, "unrecognized tar error: %d", rc);
+	}
+
 	pq_putmessage('d', h, 512);
 }
 
diff --git a/src/bin/pg_basebackup/t/010_pg_basebackup.pl b/src/bin/pg_basebackup/t/010_pg_basebackup.pl
index c966de0b741..7e9a776840c 100644
--- a/src/bin/pg_basebackup/t/010_pg_basebackup.pl
+++ b/src/bin/pg_basebackup/t/010_pg_basebackup.pl
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ use strict;
 use warnings;
 use Cwd;
 use TestLib;
-use Test::More tests => 33;
+use Test::More tests => 35;
 
 program_help_ok('pg_basebackup');
 program_version_ok('pg_basebackup');
@@ -49,6 +49,13 @@ command_ok([ 'pg_basebackup', '-D', "$tempdir/tarbackup", '-Ft' ],
 	'tar format');
 ok(-f "$tempdir/tarbackup/base.tar", 'backup tar was created');
 
+my $superlongname = "superlongname_" . ("x"x100);
+
+system_or_bail 'touch', "$tempdir/pgdata/$superlongname";
+command_fails([ 'pg_basebackup', '-D', "$tempdir/tarbackup_l1", '-Ft' ],
+			  'pg_basebackup tar with long name fails');
+unlink "$tempdir/pgdata/$superlongname";
+
 # Create a temporary directory in the system location and symlink it
 # to our physical temp location.  That way we can use shorter names
 # for the tablespace directories, which hopefully won't run afoul of
@@ -117,3 +124,9 @@ command_fails(
 command_fails(
 	[ 'pg_basebackup', '-D', "$tempdir/backup_foo", '-Fp', "-Tfoo" ],
 	'-T with invalid format fails');
+
+mkdir "$tempdir/$superlongname";
+psql 'postgres', "CREATE TABLESPACE tblspc3 LOCATION '$tempdir/$superlongname';";
+command_fails([ 'pg_basebackup', '-D', "$tempdir/tarbackup_l3", '-Ft' ],
+			  'pg_basebackup tar with long symlink target fails');
+psql 'postgres', "DROP TABLESPACE tblspc3;";
diff --git a/src/include/pgtar.h b/src/include/pgtar.h
index 20e461091a2..906db7cebcb 100644
--- a/src/include/pgtar.h
+++ b/src/include/pgtar.h
@@ -11,5 +11,13 @@
  *
  *-------------------------------------------------------------------------
  */
-extern void tarCreateHeader(char *h, const char *filename, const char *linktarget, size_t size, mode_t mode, uid_t uid, gid_t gid, time_t mtime);
+
+enum tarError
+{
+	TAR_OK = 0,
+	TAR_NAME_TOO_LONG,
+	TAR_SYMLINK_TOO_LONG
+};
+
+extern enum tarError tarCreateHeader(char *h, const char *filename, const char *linktarget, size_t size, mode_t mode, uid_t uid, gid_t gid, time_t mtime);
 extern int	tarChecksum(char *header);
diff --git a/src/port/tar.c b/src/port/tar.c
index 8ef4f9c3883..4721df3ddc3 100644
--- a/src/port/tar.c
+++ b/src/port/tar.c
@@ -49,10 +49,16 @@ tarChecksum(char *header)
  * must always have space for 512 characters, which is a requirement by
  * the tar format.
  */
-void
+enum tarError
 tarCreateHeader(char *h, const char *filename, const char *linktarget,
 				size_t size, mode_t mode, uid_t uid, gid_t gid, time_t mtime)
 {
+	if (strlen(filename) > 99)
+		return TAR_NAME_TOO_LONG;
+
+	if (linktarget && strlen(linktarget) > 99)
+		return TAR_SYMLINK_TOO_LONG;
+
 	/*
 	 * Note: most of the fields in a tar header are not supposed to be
 	 * null-terminated.  We use sprintf, which will write a null after the
@@ -141,4 +147,6 @@ tarCreateHeader(char *h, const char *filename, const char *linktarget,
 	 * 6 digits, a space, and a null, which is legal per POSIX.
 	 */
 	sprintf(&h[148], "%06o ", tarChecksum(h));
+
+	return TAR_OK;
 }