diff --git a/WHATSNEW b/WHATSNEW
index d91276fc5..a1a5311a5 100644
--- a/WHATSNEW
+++ b/WHATSNEW
@@ -109,6 +109,9 @@ Fixed bugs:
 
 * <xmlvalidate> and <schemavalidate> create a new parser for every file in a
   fileset, and so validate multiple files properly. Bugzilla Report 32791
+  
+* <tar> / <untar> now accepts files upto 8GB, <tar> gives an error if larger 
+  files are to be included. This is the POSIX size limit.
 
 Other changes:
 --------------
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Tar.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Tar.java
index 29f1ddaa6..f2278f5a7 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Tar.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Tar.java
@@ -371,6 +371,11 @@ public class Tar extends MatchingTask {
             TarEntry te = new TarEntry(vPath);
             te.setModTime(file.lastModified());
             if (!file.isDirectory()) {
+                if (file.length() > TarConstants.MAXSIZE)
+                {
+                    throw new BuildException("File: " + file + " larger than " +
+                            TarConstants.MAXSIZE + " bytes.");
+                }
                 te.setSize(file.length());
                 te.setMode(tarFileSet.getMode());
             } else {
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/tar/TarConstants.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/tar/TarConstants.java
index 59beb71d1..c4c3a88d5 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/tar/TarConstants.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/tar/TarConstants.java
@@ -58,6 +58,11 @@ public interface TarConstants {
      * The length of the size field in a header buffer.
      */
     int    SIZELEN = 12;
+    
+    /**
+     * The maximum size of a file in a tar archive (That's 11 sevens, octal).
+     */
+    long   MAXSIZE = 077777777777L;
 
     /**
      * The length of the magic field in a header buffer.
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/tar/TarInputStream.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/tar/TarInputStream.java
index 7b7e9859f..c460356a4 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/tar/TarInputStream.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/tar/TarInputStream.java
@@ -38,8 +38,8 @@ public class TarInputStream extends FilterInputStream {
 
     protected boolean debug;
     protected boolean hasHitEOF;
-    protected int entrySize;
-    protected int entryOffset;
+    protected long entrySize;
+    protected long entryOffset;
     protected byte[] readBuf;
     protected TarBuffer buffer;
     protected TarEntry currEntry;
@@ -119,13 +119,18 @@ public class TarInputStream extends FilterInputStream {
      * is left in the entire archive, only in the current entry.
      * This value is determined from the entry's size header field
      * and the amount of data already read from the current entry.
-     *
+     * Integer.MAX_VALUE is returen in case more than Integer.MAX_VALUE
+     * bytes are left in the current entry in the archive.
      *
      * @return The number of available bytes for the current entry.
      * @throws IOException for signature
      */
     public int available() throws IOException {
-        return this.entrySize - this.entryOffset;
+        if (this.entrySize - this.entryOffset > Integer.MAX_VALUE)
+        {
+            return Integer.MAX_VALUE;
+        }
+        return (int) (this.entrySize - this.entryOffset);
     }
 
     /**
@@ -198,7 +203,7 @@ public class TarInputStream extends FilterInputStream {
         }
 
         if (this.currEntry != null) {
-            int numToSkip = this.entrySize - this.entryOffset;
+            long numToSkip = this.entrySize - this.entryOffset;
 
             if (this.debug) {
                 System.err.println("TarInputStream: SKIP currENTRY '"
@@ -249,8 +254,7 @@ public class TarInputStream extends FilterInputStream {
 
             this.entryOffset = 0;
 
-            // REVIEW How do we resolve this discrepancy?!
-            this.entrySize = (int) this.currEntry.getSize();
+            this.entrySize = this.currEntry.getSize();
         }
 
         if (this.currEntry != null && this.currEntry.isGNULongNameEntry()) {
@@ -308,7 +312,7 @@ public class TarInputStream extends FilterInputStream {
         }
 
         if ((numToRead + this.entryOffset) > this.entrySize) {
-            numToRead = (this.entrySize - this.entryOffset);
+            numToRead = (int) (this.entrySize - this.entryOffset);
         }
 
         if (this.readBuf != null) {
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/tar/TarOutputStream.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/tar/TarOutputStream.java
index 03c3dc968..c9a9d86cf 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/tar/TarOutputStream.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/tar/TarOutputStream.java
@@ -43,8 +43,8 @@ public class TarOutputStream extends FilterOutputStream {
     public static final int LONGFILE_GNU = 2;
 
     protected boolean   debug;
-    protected int       currSize;
-    protected int       currBytes;
+    protected long      currSize;
+    protected long      currBytes;
     protected byte[]    oneBuf;
     protected byte[]    recordBuf;
     protected int       assemLen;
@@ -189,7 +189,7 @@ public class TarOutputStream extends FilterOutputStream {
         if (entry.isDirectory()) {
             this.currSize = 0;
         } else {
-            this.currSize = (int) entry.getSize();
+            this.currSize = entry.getSize();
         }
     }