python write string directly to tarfile

Question

Is there a way to write a string directly to a tarfile? From http://docs.python.org/library/tarfile.html it looks like only files already written to the file system can be added.

Answer 1

I found this looking how to serve in Django a just created in memory .tgz archive, may be somebody else will find my code usefull:

import tarfile
from io import BytesIO


def serve_file(request):
    out = BytesIO()
    tar = tarfile.open(mode = "w:gz", fileobj = out)
    data = 'lala'.encode('utf-8')
    file = BytesIO(data)
    info = tarfile.TarInfo(name="1.txt")
    info.size = len(data)
    tar.addfile(tarinfo=info, fileobj=file)
    tar.close()

    response = HttpResponse(out.getvalue(), content_type='application/tgz')
    response['Content-Disposition'] = 'attachment; filename=myfile.tgz'
    return response