diff -r -u duplicity/duplicity/commandline.py duplicity-numeric-owner/duplicity/commandline.py
--- duplicity/duplicity/commandline.py	2008-09-16 08:11:01.000000000 -0700
+++ duplicity-numeric-owner/duplicity/commandline.py	2008-10-29 12:54:50.000000000 -0700
@@ -84,6 +84,7 @@
            "no-print-statistics",
            "null-separator",
            "num-retries=",
+           "numeric-owner",
            "restore-dir=",
            "restore-time=",
            "s3-european-buckets",
@@ -229,6 +230,8 @@
             globals.null_separator = 1
         elif opt == "--num-retries":
             globals.num_retries = int(arg)
+        elif opt == "--numeric-owner":
+            globals.numeric_owner = True 
         elif opt in ["-r", "--file-to-restore"]:
             globals.restore_dir = arg
         elif opt in ["-t", "--restore-time"]:
@@ -346,6 +349,7 @@
     --no-print-statistics
     --null-separator
     --num-retries <number>
+    --numeric-owner
     --s3-european-buckets
     --s3-use-new-style
     --scp-command <command>
diff -r -u duplicity/duplicity/globals.py duplicity-numeric-owner/duplicity/globals.py
--- duplicity/duplicity/globals.py	2008-08-01 11:15:53.000000000 -0700
+++ duplicity-numeric-owner/duplicity/globals.py	2008-10-29 10:44:17.000000000 -0700
@@ -126,3 +126,6 @@
 # Whether to create European buckets (sorry, hard-coded to only
 # support european for now).
 s3_european_buckets = False
+
+# File owner uid keeps number from tar file.  Like same option in gnu tar
+numeric_owner = False
diff -r -u duplicity/duplicity/tarfile.py duplicity-numeric-owner/duplicity/tarfile.py
--- duplicity/duplicity/tarfile.py	2008-09-09 12:57:46.000000000 -0700
+++ duplicity-numeric-owner/duplicity/tarfile.py	2008-10-29 13:30:41.000000000 -0700
@@ -986,18 +986,24 @@
         """
         if pwd and os.geteuid() == 0:
             # We have to be root to do so.
-            try: g = gname2gid(tarinfo.gname)
-            except KeyError:
-                try:
-                    gid2gname(tarinfo.gid) # Make sure gid exists
-                    g = tarinfo.gid
-                except KeyError: g = os.getgid()
-            try: u = uname2uid(tarinfo.uname)
-            except KeyError:
-                try:
-                    uid2uname(tarinfo.uid) # Make sure uid exists
-                    u = tarinfo.uid
-                except KeyError: u = os.getuid()
+            if globals.numeric_owner: 
+                g = tarinfo.gid
+            else:
+                try: g = gname2gid(tarinfo.gname)
+                except KeyError:
+                    try:
+                        gid2gname(tarinfo.gid) # Make sure gid exists
+                        g = tarinfo.gid
+                    except KeyError: g = os.getgid()
+            if globals.numeric_owner:
+                u = tarinfo.uid
+            else:
+                try: u = uname2uid(tarinfo.uname)
+                except KeyError:
+                    try:
+                        uid2uname(tarinfo.uid) # Make sure uid exists
+                        u = tarinfo.uid
+                    except KeyError: u = os.getuid()
             try:
                 if tarinfo.issym() and hasattr(os, "lchown"):
                     os.lchown(targetpath, u, g)