diff --git a/proxmox-compression/Cargo.toml b/proxmox-compression/Cargo.toml
index c5ad3fd6..0618465c 100644
--- a/proxmox-compression/Cargo.toml
+++ b/proxmox-compression/Cargo.toml
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ crc32fast = "1"
 endian_trait = { version = "0.6" }
 flate2 = "1.0"
 futures = "0.3"
+libc = "0.2"
 tokio = { version = "1.6", features = [ "fs", "io-util"] }
 walkdir = "2"
 tar = "0.4"
diff --git a/proxmox-compression/src/tar.rs b/proxmox-compression/src/tar.rs
index 57e7e18e..2521d344 100644
--- a/proxmox-compression/src/tar.rs
+++ b/proxmox-compression/src/tar.rs
@@ -1,9 +1,12 @@
 //! tar helper
+use std::collections::HashMap;
 use std::io;
 use std::os::unix::ffi::OsStrExt;
 use std::path::{Component, Path, PathBuf};
 use std::str;
 
+use anyhow::Error;
+
 use tokio::io::{AsyncRead, AsyncReadExt, AsyncWrite, AsyncWriteExt};
 
 use tar::{EntryType, Header};
@@ -162,3 +165,116 @@ where
     }
     Ok(())
 }
+
+pub async fn tar_directory<W>(target: W, source: &Path) -> Result<(), Error>
+where
+    W: AsyncWrite + Unpin + Send,
+{
+    use std::os::unix::fs::{FileTypeExt, MetadataExt};
+    use walkdir::WalkDir;
+
+    let base_path = source.parent().unwrap_or_else(|| Path::new("/"));
+    let mut encoder = Builder::new(target);
+    let mut hardlinks: HashMap<u64, HashMap<u64, PathBuf>> = HashMap::new(); // dev -> inode -> first path
+
+    for entry in WalkDir::new(&source).into_iter() {
+        match entry {
+            Ok(entry) => {
+                let entry_path = entry.path().to_owned();
+                let encoder = &mut encoder;
+                let hardlinks = &mut hardlinks;
+
+                if let Err(err) = async move {
+                    let entry_path_no_base = entry.path().strip_prefix(base_path)?;
+                    let metadata = entry.metadata()?;
+                    let mut header = Header::new_gnu();
+                    header.set_mode(metadata.mode());
+                    header.set_mtime(metadata.mtime() as u64);
+                    header.set_uid(metadata.uid() as u64);
+                    header.set_gid(metadata.gid() as u64);
+                    header.set_size(0);
+                    let dev = metadata.dev();
+
+                    let file_type = entry.file_type();
+
+                    if file_type.is_file() {
+                        if metadata.nlink() > 1 {
+                            let ino = metadata.ino();
+                            if let Some(map) = hardlinks.get_mut(&dev) {
+                                if let Some(target) = map.get(&ino) {
+                                    header.set_entry_type(tar::EntryType::Link);
+                                    encoder
+                                        .add_link(&mut header, entry_path_no_base, target)
+                                        .await?;
+                                    return Ok(());
+                                } else {
+                                    map.insert(ino, entry_path_no_base.to_path_buf());
+                                }
+                            } else {
+                                let mut map = HashMap::new();
+                                map.insert(ino, entry_path_no_base.to_path_buf());
+                                hardlinks.insert(dev, map);
+                            }
+                        }
+                        let file = tokio::fs::File::open(entry.path()).await?;
+                        header.set_size(metadata.size());
+                        header.set_cksum();
+                        encoder
+                            .add_entry(&mut header, entry_path_no_base, file)
+                            .await?;
+                    } else if file_type.is_dir() {
+                        header.set_entry_type(EntryType::Directory);
+                        header.set_cksum();
+                        encoder
+                            .add_entry(&mut header, entry_path_no_base, tokio::io::empty())
+                            .await?;
+                    } else if file_type.is_symlink() {
+                        let target = std::fs::read_link(entry.path())?;
+                        header.set_entry_type(EntryType::Symlink);
+                        encoder
+                            .add_link(&mut header, entry_path_no_base, target)
+                            .await?;
+                    } else if file_type.is_block_device() {
+                        header.set_entry_type(EntryType::Block);
+                        header.set_device_major(unsafe { libc::major(dev) })?;
+                        header.set_device_minor(unsafe { libc::minor(dev) })?;
+                        header.set_cksum();
+                        encoder
+                            .add_entry(&mut header, entry_path_no_base, tokio::io::empty())
+                            .await?;
+                    } else if file_type.is_char_device() {
+                        header.set_entry_type(EntryType::Char);
+                        header.set_device_major(unsafe { libc::major(dev) })?;
+                        header.set_device_minor(unsafe { libc::minor(dev) })?;
+                        header.set_cksum();
+                        encoder
+                            .add_entry(&mut header, entry_path_no_base, tokio::io::empty())
+                            .await?;
+                    } else if file_type.is_fifo() {
+                        header.set_entry_type(EntryType::Fifo);
+                        header.set_device_major(0)?;
+                        header.set_device_minor(0)?;
+                        header.set_cksum();
+                        encoder
+                            .add_entry(&mut header, entry_path_no_base, tokio::io::empty())
+                            .await?;
+                    }
+                    // ignore other file_types
+                    Ok::<_, Error>(())
+                }
+                .await
+                {
+                    eprintln!(
+                        "zip: error encoding file or directory '{}': {}",
+                        entry_path.display(),
+                        err
+                    );
+                }
+            }
+            Err(err) => {
+                eprintln!("zip: error reading directory entry: {}", err);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    Ok(())
+}