diff --git a/bin/pax/pax.1 b/bin/pax/pax.1
index 373ec9baa9de..58fba132babd 100644
--- a/bin/pax/pax.1
+++ b/bin/pax/pax.1
@@ -748,7 +748,9 @@ The extended tar interchange format specified in the
 .St -p1003.2
 standard.
 The default blocksize for this format is 10240 bytes.
-Pathnames stored by this format must be 250 characters or less in length.
+Pathnames stored by this format must be 255 characters or less in length.
+The directory part may be at most 155 characters and each path component
+must be less than 100 characters.
 .El
 .Pp
 The
diff --git a/bin/pax/tar.c b/bin/pax/tar.c
index e274df47cf7a..05e8be57ee55 100644
--- a/bin/pax/tar.c
+++ b/bin/pax/tar.c
@@ -1086,7 +1086,7 @@ name_split(char *name, int len)
 	 */
 	if (len <= TNMSZ)
 		return(name);
-	if (len > (TPFSZ + TNMSZ + 1))
+	if (len > TPFSZ + TNMSZ)
 		return(NULL);
 
 	/*
diff --git a/tools/regression/bin/pax/Makefile b/tools/regression/bin/pax/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..dc1a317928d3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/regression/bin/pax/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+# $FreeBSD$
+
+test:
+	prove -vmw regress.t
+
+clean:
+	rm -rf ustar-pathnames-[12]
+	rm -f ustar.ok ustar.fail*
diff --git a/tools/regression/bin/pax/regress.t b/tools/regression/bin/pax/regress.t
new file mode 100755
index 000000000000..7c392cbb765c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/regression/bin/pax/regress.t
@@ -0,0 +1,91 @@
+#! /usr/bin/perl
+#
+# $FreeBSD$
+
+use strict;
+use warnings;
+
+use Test::More tests => 6;
+use File::Path qw(rmtree mkpath);
+use Cwd;
+
+my $n = 0;
+sub create_file {
+    my $fn = shift;
+
+    $n++;
+    (my $dir = $fn) =~ s,/[^/]+$,,;
+    mkpath $dir;
+    open my $fd, ">", $fn or die "$fn: $!";
+    print $fd "file $n\n";
+}
+
+
+ustar_pathnames: { SKIP: {
+    # Prove that pax breaks up ustar pathnames properly
+
+    my $top = getcwd . "/ustar-pathnames-1";
+    skip "Current path is too long", 6 if length $top > 92;
+    rmtree $top;
+    my $subdir = "x" . "x" x (92 - length $top);
+    my $work94 = "$top/$subdir";
+    mkpath $work94;		# $work is 94 characters long
+
+    my $x49 = "x" x 49;
+    my $x50 = "x" x 50;
+    my $x60 = "x" x 60;
+    my $x95 = "x" x 95;
+
+    my @paths = (
+	"$work94/x099",		# 99 chars
+	"$work94/xx100",		# 100 chars
+	"$work94/xxx101",		# 101 chars
+	"$work94/$x49/${x50}x199",	# 199 chars
+	"$work94/$x49/${x50}xx200",	# 200 chars
+	"$work94/$x49/${x50}xxx201",	# 201 chars
+	"$work94/$x60/${x95}254",	# 254 chars
+	"$work94/$x60/${x95}x255",	# 255 chars
+    );
+
+    my @l = map { length } @paths;
+
+    my $n = 0;
+    create_file $_ for @paths;
+    system "pax -wf ustar.ok $work94";
+    ok($? == 0, "Wrote 'ustar.ok' containing files with lengths @l");
+
+    (my $orig = $top) =~ s,1$,2,;
+    rmtree $orig;
+    rename $top, $orig;
+
+    system "pax -rf ustar.ok";
+    ok($? == 0, "Restored 'ustar.ok' containing files with lengths @l");
+
+    system "diff -ru $orig $top";
+    ok($? == 0, "Restored files are identical");
+
+    rmtree $top;
+    rename $orig, $top;
+
+    # 256 chars (with components < 100 chars) should not work
+    push @paths, "$work94/x$x60/${x95}x256";	# 256 chars
+    push @l, length $paths[-1];
+    create_file $paths[-1];
+    system "pax -wf ustar.fail1 $work94";
+    ok($?, "Failed to write 'ustar.fail1' containing files with lengths @l");
+
+    # Components with 100 chars shouldn't work
+    unlink $paths[-1];
+    $paths[-1] = "$work94/${x95}xc100";		# 100 char filename
+    $l[-1] = length $paths[-1];
+    create_file $paths[-1];
+    system "pax -wf ustar.fail2 $work94";
+    ok($?, "Failed to write 'ustar.fail2' with a 100 char filename");
+
+    unlink $paths[-1];
+    $paths[-1] = "$work94/${x95}xc100/x";	# 100 char component
+    $l[-1] = length $paths[-1];
+    create_file $paths[-1];
+    system "pax -wf ustar.fail3 $work94";
+    ok($?, "Failed to write 'ustar.fail3' with a 100 char component");
+}}