diff --git a/src/libostree/ostree-mutable-tree.c b/src/libostree/ostree-mutable-tree.c
index ca8be1ee..5f63f113 100644
--- a/src/libostree/ostree-mutable-tree.c
+++ b/src/libostree/ostree-mutable-tree.c
@@ -221,6 +221,55 @@ ostree_mutable_tree_lookup (OstreeMutableTree   *self,
   return ret;
 }
 
+gboolean
+ostree_mutable_tree_ensure_parent_dirs (OstreeMutableTree  *self,
+                                        GPtrArray          *split_path,
+                                        const char         *metadata_checksum,
+                                        OstreeMutableTree **out_parent,
+                                        GError            **error)
+{
+  gboolean ret = FALSE;
+  int i;
+  OstreeMutableTree *ret_parent = NULL;
+  OstreeMutableTree *subdir = self;
+
+  g_assert (metadata_checksum != NULL);
+
+  if (!self->metadata_checksum)
+    ostree_mutable_tree_set_metadata_checksum (self, metadata_checksum);
+
+  for (i = 0; i+1 < split_path->len; i++)
+    {
+      OstreeMutableTree *next;
+      const char *name = split_path->pdata[i];
+
+      if (g_hash_table_lookup (subdir->files, name))
+        {
+          g_set_error (error, G_IO_ERROR, G_IO_ERROR_FAILED,
+                       "Can't replace file with directory: %s", name);
+          goto out;
+        }
+
+      next = g_hash_table_lookup (subdir->subdirs, name);
+      if (!next) 
+        {
+          next = ostree_mutable_tree_new ();
+          ostree_mutable_tree_set_metadata_checksum (next, metadata_checksum);
+          g_hash_table_insert (subdir->subdirs, g_strdup (name), next);
+        }
+      
+      subdir = next;
+    }
+
+  ret_parent = g_object_ref (subdir);
+
+  ret = TRUE;
+  ot_transfer_out_value (out_parent, &ret_parent);
+ out:
+  g_clear_object (&ret_parent);
+  return ret;
+}
+
 gboolean
 ostree_mutable_tree_walk (OstreeMutableTree     *self,
                           GPtrArray             *split_path,
diff --git a/src/libostree/ostree-mutable-tree.h b/src/libostree/ostree-mutable-tree.h
index 413da028..e47964d1 100644
--- a/src/libostree/ostree-mutable-tree.h
+++ b/src/libostree/ostree-mutable-tree.h
@@ -77,6 +77,13 @@ gboolean ostree_mutable_tree_lookup (OstreeMutableTree   *self,
                                      OstreeMutableTree  **out_subdir,
                                      GError             **error);
 
+gboolean
+ostree_mutable_tree_ensure_parent_dirs (OstreeMutableTree  *self,
+                                        GPtrArray          *split_path,
+                                        const char         *metadata_checksum,
+                                        OstreeMutableTree **out_parent,
+                                        GError            **error);
+
 gboolean ostree_mutable_tree_walk (OstreeMutableTree   *self,
                                    GPtrArray           *split_path,
                                    guint                start,
diff --git a/src/libostree/ostree-repo.c b/src/libostree/ostree-repo.c
index 80b81812..71bf0555 100644
--- a/src/libostree/ostree-repo.c
+++ b/src/libostree/ostree-repo.c
@@ -1585,6 +1585,7 @@ ostree_repo_stage_mtree (OstreeRepo           *self,
       while (g_hash_table_iter_next (&hash_iter, &key, &value))
         {
           const char *name = key;
+          const char *metadata_checksum;
           OstreeMutableTree *child_dir = value;
           char *child_dir_contents_checksum;
 
@@ -1592,10 +1593,13 @@ ostree_repo_stage_mtree (OstreeRepo           *self,
                                         cancellable, error))
             goto out;
       
+          g_assert (child_dir_contents_checksum);
           g_hash_table_replace (dir_contents_checksums, g_strdup (name),
                                 child_dir_contents_checksum); /* Transfer ownership */
+          metadata_checksum = ostree_mutable_tree_get_metadata_checksum (child_dir);
+          g_assert (metadata_checksum);
           g_hash_table_replace (dir_metadata_checksums, g_strdup (name),
-                                g_strdup (ostree_mutable_tree_get_metadata_checksum (child_dir)));
+                                g_strdup (metadata_checksum));
         }
     
       serialized_tree = create_tree_variant_from_hashes (ostree_mutable_tree_get_files (mtree),
@@ -1709,6 +1713,7 @@ stage_libarchive_entry_to_mtree (OstreeRepo           *self,
                                  struct archive       *a,
                                  struct archive_entry *entry,
                                  OstreeRepoCommitModifier *modifier,
+                                 const char               *tmp_dir_checksum,
                                  GCancellable         *cancellable,
                                  GError              **error)
 {
@@ -1738,8 +1743,19 @@ stage_libarchive_entry_to_mtree (OstreeRepo           *self,
     }
   else
     {
-      if (!ostree_mutable_tree_walk (root, split_path, 0, &parent, error))
-        goto out;
+      if (tmp_dir_checksum)
+        {
+          if (!ostree_mutable_tree_ensure_parent_dirs (root, split_path,
+                                                       tmp_dir_checksum,
+                                                       &parent,
+                                                       error))
+            goto out;
+        }
+      else
+        {
+          if (!ostree_mutable_tree_walk (root, split_path, 0, &parent, error))
+            goto out;
+        }
       basename = (char*)split_path->pdata[split_path->len-1];
     }
 
@@ -1854,18 +1870,21 @@ stage_libarchive_entry_to_mtree (OstreeRepo           *self,
 #endif
                           
 gboolean
-ostree_repo_stage_archive_to_mtree (OstreeRepo           *self,
-                                    GFile                *archive_f,
-                                    OstreeMutableTree    *root,
-                                    OstreeRepoCommitModifier *modifier,
-                                    GCancellable         *cancellable,
-                                    GError              **error)
+ostree_repo_stage_archive_to_mtree (OstreeRepo                *self,
+                                    GFile                     *archive_f,
+                                    OstreeMutableTree         *root,
+                                    OstreeRepoCommitModifier  *modifier,
+                                    gboolean                   autocreate_parents,
+                                    GCancellable             *cancellable,
+                                    GError                  **error)
 {
 #ifdef HAVE_LIBARCHIVE
   gboolean ret = FALSE;
-  struct archive *a;
+  struct archive *a = NULL;
   struct archive_entry *entry;
   int r;
+  GFileInfo *tmp_dir_info = NULL;
+  GChecksum *tmp_dir_checksum = NULL;
 
   a = archive_read_new ();
   archive_read_support_compression_all (a);
@@ -1887,7 +1906,22 @@ ostree_repo_stage_archive_to_mtree (OstreeRepo           *self,
           goto out;
         }
 
-      if (!stage_libarchive_entry_to_mtree (self, root, a, entry, modifier, cancellable, error))
+      if (autocreate_parents && !tmp_dir_checksum)
+        {
+          tmp_dir_info = g_file_info_new ();
+          
+          g_file_info_set_attribute_uint32 (tmp_dir_info, "unix::uid", archive_entry_uid (entry));
+          g_file_info_set_attribute_uint32 (tmp_dir_info, "unix::gid", archive_entry_gid (entry));
+          g_file_info_set_attribute_uint32 (tmp_dir_info, "unix::mode", 0755 | S_IFDIR);
+          
+          if (!stage_directory_meta (self, tmp_dir_info, NULL, &tmp_dir_checksum, cancellable, error))
+            goto out;
+        }
+
+      if (!stage_libarchive_entry_to_mtree (self, root, a,
+                                            entry, modifier,
+                                            autocreate_parents ? g_checksum_get_string (tmp_dir_checksum) : NULL,
+                                            cancellable, error))
         goto out;
     }
   if (archive_read_close (a) != ARCHIVE_OK)
@@ -1898,7 +1932,10 @@ ostree_repo_stage_archive_to_mtree (OstreeRepo           *self,
 
   ret = TRUE;
  out:
-  (void)archive_read_close (a);
+  g_clear_object (&tmp_dir_info);
+  ot_clear_checksum (&tmp_dir_checksum);
+  if (a)
+    (void)archive_read_close (a);
   return ret;
 #else
   g_set_error (error, G_IO_ERROR, G_IO_ERROR_NOT_SUPPORTED,
diff --git a/src/libostree/ostree-repo.h b/src/libostree/ostree-repo.h
index 08ebd58c..3777d840 100644
--- a/src/libostree/ostree-repo.h
+++ b/src/libostree/ostree-repo.h
@@ -158,6 +158,7 @@ gboolean      ostree_repo_stage_archive_to_mtree (OstreeRepo         *self,
                                                   GFile              *archive,
                                                   OstreeMutableTree  *tree,
                                                   OstreeRepoCommitModifier *modifier,
+                                                  gboolean            autocreate_parents,
                                                   GCancellable *cancellable,
                                                   GError      **error);
 
diff --git a/src/ostree/ot-builtin-commit.c b/src/ostree/ot-builtin-commit.c
index 5fcc0371..8e525ef2 100644
--- a/src/ostree/ot-builtin-commit.c
+++ b/src/ostree/ot-builtin-commit.c
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ static char *body;
 static char *parent;
 static char *branch;
 static gboolean skip_if_unchanged;
+static gboolean tar_autocreate_parents;
 static char **trees;
 static gint owner_uid = -1;
 static gint owner_gid = -1;
@@ -50,6 +51,7 @@ static GOptionEntry options[] = {
   { "tree", 0, 0, G_OPTION_ARG_STRING_ARRAY, &trees, "Overlay the given argument as a tree", "NAME" },
   { "owner-uid", 0, 0, G_OPTION_ARG_INT, &owner_uid, "Set file ownership user id", "UID" },
   { "owner-gid", 0, 0, G_OPTION_ARG_INT, &owner_gid, "Set file ownership group id", "GID" },
+  { "tar-autocreate-parents", 0, 0, G_OPTION_ARG_NONE, &tar_autocreate_parents, "When loading tar archives, automatically create parent directories as needed", NULL },
   { "skip-if-unchanged", 0, 0, G_OPTION_ARG_NONE, &skip_if_unchanged, "If the contents are unchanged from previous commit, do nothing", NULL },
   { NULL }
 };
@@ -187,6 +189,7 @@ ostree_builtin_commit (int argc, char **argv, GFile *repo_path, GError **error)
             {
               arg = ot_gfile_new_for_path (tree);
               if (!ostree_repo_stage_archive_to_mtree (repo, arg, mtree, modifier,
+                                                       tar_autocreate_parents,
                                                        cancellable, error))
                 goto out;
             }
diff --git a/tests/t0006-libarchive.sh b/tests/t0006-libarchive.sh
index 4173c97a..06a0bf9c 100755
--- a/tests/t0006-libarchive.sh
+++ b/tests/t0006-libarchive.sh
@@ -100,3 +100,13 @@ assert_file_has_content otherfile "not overwritten"
 assert_file_has_content subdir/original "original"
 assert_file_has_content subdir/new "new"
 echo "ok tar multicommit contents"
+
+cd ${test_tmpdir}/multicommit-files
+tar -c -C files1 -z -f partial.tar.gz subdir/original
+$OSTREE commit -s 'partial' -b partial --tar-autocreate-parents --tree=tar=partial.tar.gz
+echo "ok tar partial commit"
+
+cd ${test_tmpdir}
+$OSTREE checkout partial partial-checkout
+cd partial-checkout
+assert_file_has_content subdir/original "original"