I have managed to fix the issue just by replacing bsdtar by GNU tar.

For the full list of changes refer to:
https://github.com/sergeyklay/bnf-mode/commit/309f05a781dc05999e8f0530f23089f38dd0fde6

On 1/18/20 5:08 PM, Serghei wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I am the bnf-mode[1] creator.  I am trying to figure out what
> happens when I install the mode from the tar archive.  Frankly
> speaking, I get a strange error message.
>
> You can see the fresh Makefile I use to create tar archive at GitHub
> repo[2].  All I need to create a tar archive is a command
> `make package'.  And it seems it works as expected.  However, after
> creating the archive, I was failed to install it.  After changing
> this line[3] as follows:
>
> diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
> index c04c01c..d11ac3d 100644
> --- a/Makefile
> +++ b/Makefile
> @@ -122,7 +122,8 @@ package: $(PACKAGE_NAME).tar
>
>  .PHONY: install
>  install: $(PACKAGE_NAME).tar
> -       $(EMACS) --batch -l package -f package-initialize --eval
> "(package-install-file \"$(PWD)/$(PACKAGE_NAME).tar\")"
> +       $(EMACS) --batch -l package -f package-initialize --eval \
> +               "(let ((debug-on-error t))(package-install-file
> \"$(PWD)/$(PACKAGE_NAME).tar\"))"
>
>  .PHONY: help
>  help: .title
>
> I got the following debug trace:
>
> $ make install
> Parsing tar file...
> Parsing tar file...done
> Debugger entered--Lisp error: (wrong-type-argument arrayp nil)
>   tar--describe-as-link(nil)
>   tar--check-descriptor(nil)
>   tar-get-file-descriptor("bnf-mode-0.4.3/PaxHeader/PaxHeader-pkg.el")
>   package-tar-file-info()
>   package-install-from-buffer()
>   package-install-file("/home/klay/work/bnf-mode/bnf-mode-0.4.3.tar")
>   (let ((debug-on-error t)) (package-install-file
> "/home/klay/work/bnf-mode/bnf-mode-0.4.3.tar"))
>   eval((let ((debug-on-error t)) (package-install-file
> "/home/klay/work/bnf-mode/bnf-mode-0.4.3.tar")))
>   command-line-1(("-l" "package" "-f" "package-initialize" "--eval"
> "(let ((debug-on-error t))(package-install-file
> \"/home/klay/work/bnf-mode/bnf-mode-0.4.3.tar\"))"))
>   command-line()
>   normal-top-level()
>
> make: *** [Makefile:125: install] Error 255
>
> I have no idea what is PaxHeader/PaxHeader-pkg.el and even stranger
> that after inspecting `tar-mode' I found this:
>
> (defun tar-get-file-descriptor (file)
>   ;; Used by package.el.
>   (let ((desc ()))
>     (dolist (hdr tar-parse-info)
>       (when (equal file (tar-header-name hdr))
>         (setq desc hdr)))
>     (tar--check-descriptor desc)
>     desc))
>
> As you can see without any validation `desc' was passed to
> `tar--check-descriptor` defun.  The `tar--check-descriptor` is just
> calls `tar--describe-as-link`:
>
> (defun tar--check-descriptor (descriptor)
>   (let ((link-desc (tar--describe-as-link descriptor)))
>     (when link-desc
>       (error "This is %s, not a real file" link-desc))))
>
> And finally it calls `tar-header-link-type':
>
> (defun tar--describe-as-link (descriptor)
>   (let ((link-p (tar-header-link-type descriptor)))
>     (if link-p
> 	(cond ((eq link-p 5) "a directory")
>               ((eq link-p 20) "a tar directory header")
>               ((eq link-p 28) "a next has longname")
>               ((eq link-p 29) "a multivolume-continuation")
>               ((eq link-p 35) "a sparse entry")
>               ((eq link-p 38) "a volume header")
>               ((eq link-p 55) "a pax global extended header")
>               ((eq link-p 72) "a pax extended header")
>               (t "a link")))))
>
> I will be happy for any help and tips in the right direction.
>
> N.B. My GNU Emacs version is 26.3 on Debian/GNU Linux 10.
>
>
> [1]: https://elpa.gnu.org/packages/bnf-mode.html
> [2]:
> https://github.com/sergeyklay/bnf-mode/blob/87c779851e44aab6639cdf2ab699aa9cd41f97c7/Makefile
> [3]:
> https://github.com/sergeyklay/bnf-mode/blob/87c779851e44aab6639cdf2ab699aa9cd41f97c7/Makefile#L125
>
> --
> Serghei
>
>