diff -Naur tar-1.18.orig/src/common.h tar-1.18/src/common.h
--- tar-1.18.orig/src/common.h	2007-06-27 15:30:31.000000000 +0200
+++ tar-1.18/src/common.h	2011-01-13 14:08:14.000000000 +0100
@@ -261,6 +261,12 @@
 
 GLOBAL bool show_omitted_dirs_option;
 
+GLOBAL unsigned sleep_time;
+GLOBAL unsigned sleep_filenum;
+GLOBAL unsigned sleep_curfilenum;
+GLOBAL unsigned sleep_filesize;
+GLOBAL unsigned sleep_curfilesize;
+
 GLOBAL bool sparse_option;
 GLOBAL unsigned tar_sparse_major;
 GLOBAL unsigned tar_sparse_minor;
diff -Naur tar-1.18.orig/src/extract.c tar-1.18/src/extract.c
--- tar-1.18.orig/src/extract.c	2007-06-27 15:30:31.000000000 +0200
+++ tar-1.18/src/extract.c	2011-01-13 15:17:00.000000000 +0100
@@ -832,6 +832,24 @@
 	       UNKNOWN_PERMSTATUS : ARCHIVED_PERMSTATUS),
 	      typeflag);
 
+  if (sleep_filenum > 0)
+    ++sleep_curfilenum;
+  if (sleep_filesize > 0)
+    sleep_curfilesize += current_stat_info.stat.st_size;
+  if (sleep_time > 0)
+  {
+    if (sleep_filenum > 0 && sleep_curfilenum >= sleep_filenum)
+    {
+      sleep_curfilenum -= sleep_filenum;
+      usleep(sleep_time * 1000);
+    }
+    else if (sleep_filesize > 0 && sleep_curfilesize >= sleep_filesize)
+    {
+      sleep_curfilesize -= sleep_filesize;
+      usleep(sleep_time * 1000);
+    }
+  }
+
   return status;
 }
 
@@ -1246,7 +1264,6 @@
     }
   else
     skip_member ();
-
 }
 
 /* Extract the symbolic links whose final extraction were delayed.  */
diff -Naur tar-1.18.orig/src/tar.c tar-1.18/src/tar.c
--- tar-1.18.orig/src/tar.c	2007-06-27 15:30:32.000000000 +0200
+++ tar-1.18/src/tar.c	2011-01-13 14:18:53.000000000 +0100
@@ -307,6 +307,7 @@
   SHOW_DEFAULTS_OPTION,
   SHOW_OMITTED_DIRS_OPTION,
   SHOW_TRANSFORMED_NAMES_OPTION,
+  SLEEP_OPTION,
   SPARSE_VERSION_OPTION,
   STRIP_COMPONENTS_OPTION,
   SUFFIX_OPTION,
@@ -543,6 +544,8 @@
    N_("ignore zeroed blocks in archive (means EOF)"), GRID+1 },
   {"read-full-records", 'B', 0, 0,
    N_("reblock as we read (for 4.2BSD pipes)"), GRID+1 },
+  {"sleep", SLEEP_OPTION, N_("SLEEP:FILENUM[:FILESIZE]"), 0,
+   N_("while extracting sleep SLEEP milliseconds every FILENUM files [or FILESIZE bytes]"), GRID+1 },
 #undef GRID
 
 #define GRID 80
@@ -1755,6 +1758,29 @@
       show_transformed_names_option = true;
       break;
 
+    case SLEEP_OPTION:
+      {
+	char *token, *p;
+	if ((token = strtok (arg, ":")) == NULL)
+	  FATAL_ERROR ((0, 0, _("--sleep: Invalid syntax 1")));
+	sleep_time = strtoul (token, &p, 10);
+	if (*p)
+	  FATAL_ERROR ((0, 0, _("--sleep: SLEEP is not an integer")));
+
+	if ((token = strtok (NULL, ":")) == NULL)
+	  FATAL_ERROR ((0, 0, _("--sleep: Invalid syntax 2")));
+	sleep_filenum = strtoul (token, &p, 10);
+	if (*p)
+	  FATAL_ERROR ((0, 0, _("--sleep: FILENUM is not an integer")));
+
+	if ((token = strtok (NULL, ":")) == NULL)
+	  break;
+	sleep_filesize = strtoul (token, &p, 10);
+	if (*p)
+	  FATAL_ERROR ((0, 0, _("--sleep: FILESIZE is not an integer")));
+      }
+      break;
+
     case SUFFIX_OPTION:
       backup_option = true;
       args->backup_suffix_string = arg;
@@ -1975,6 +2001,7 @@
   unquote_option = true;
   tar_sparse_major = 1;
   tar_sparse_minor = 0;
+  sleep_time = sleep_filenum = sleep_curfilenum = sleep_filesize = sleep_curfilesize = 0;
 
   owner_option = -1;
   group_option = -1;