diff --git a/src/backend/BSContar.pm b/src/backend/BSContar.pm
index 06e66054c1f..071d0e13bc4 100644
--- a/src/backend/BSContar.pm
+++ b/src/backend/BSContar.pm
@@ -302,12 +302,8 @@ sub checksum_tar {
 }
 
 sub normalize_container {
-  my ($tarfd, $recompress, $repotags, $tmpdir) = @_;
-  my @tarstat = stat($tarfd);
-  die("stat: $!\n") unless @tarstat;
-  my $mtime = $tarstat[9];
-  my $tar = BSTar::list($tarfd);
-  $_->{'file'} = $tarfd for @$tar;
+  my ($file, $recompress, $repotags, $tmpdir) = @_;
+  my ($tar, $mtime) = open_container_tar($file);
   my %tar = map {$_->{'name'} => $_} @$tar;
   my ($manifest_ent, $manifest, $layercomp) = get_manifest(\%tar);
   my ($config_ent, $config) = get_config(\%tar, $manifest);
@@ -414,6 +410,21 @@ sub create_dist_manifest_list {
   return $json;
 }
 
+sub open_container_tar {
+  my ($file) = @_;
+  my $tarfd;
+  if (ref($file)) {
+    $tarfd = $file;
+  } else {
+    open($tarfd, '<', $file) || die("$file: $!\n");
+  }
+  my @s = stat($tarfd);
+  die("$file: $!\n") unless @s;
+  my $tar = BSTar::list($tarfd);
+  $_->{'file'} = $tarfd for @$tar;
+  return ($tar, $s[9]);
+}
+
 sub container_from_helm {
   my ($chartfile, $config_json, $repotags) = @_;
   my $fd;
diff --git a/src/backend/BSPublisher/Container.pm b/src/backend/BSPublisher/Container.pm
index b3911025291..65be0b76ddb 100644
--- a/src/backend/BSPublisher/Container.pm
+++ b/src/backend/BSPublisher/Container.pm
@@ -318,17 +318,13 @@ sub open_container_tar {
   } elsif (($containerinfo->{'type'} || '') eq 'helm') {
     ($tar, $mtime, $layer_compression) = BSContar::container_from_helm($file, $containerinfo->{'config_json'}, $containerinfo->{'tags'});
   } elsif ($file =~ /\.tar$/) {
-    my $tarfd;
-    open($tarfd, '<', $file) || die("$file: $!\n");
-    $tar = BSTar::list($tarfd);
-    $_->{'file'} = $tarfd for @$tar;
+    ($tar, $mtime) = BSContar::open_container_tar($file);
   } else {
     my $tmpfile = decompress_container($file);
     my $tarfd;
     open($tarfd, '<', $tmpfile) || die("$tmpfile: $!\n");
     unlink($tmpfile);
-    $tar = BSTar::list($tarfd);
-    $_->{'file'} = $tarfd for @$tar;
+    ($tar, $mtime) = BSContar::open_container_tar($tarfd);
   }
   die("incomplete containerinfo\n") unless $tar;
   return ($tar, $mtime, $layer_compression);
diff --git a/src/backend/BSPublisher/Registry.pm b/src/backend/BSPublisher/Registry.pm
index 079f494f91c..96356af9319 100644
--- a/src/backend/BSPublisher/Registry.pm
+++ b/src/backend/BSPublisher/Registry.pm
@@ -562,9 +562,7 @@ sub open_container_tar {
   } elsif (($containerinfo->{'type'} || '') eq 'helm') {
     ($tar, $mtime, $layer_compression) = BSContar::container_from_helm($file, $containerinfo->{'config_json'}, $containerinfo->{'tags'});
   } else {
-    my $tarfd;
-    open($tarfd, '<', $file) || die("$file: $!\n");
-    ($tar, $mtime, undef, undef, $layer_compression) = BSContar::normalize_container($tarfd, 1);
+    ($tar, $mtime, undef, undef, $layer_compression) = BSContar::normalize_container($file, 1);
   }
   die("incomplete containerinfo\n") unless $tar; 
   return ($tar, $mtime, $layer_compression);
diff --git a/src/backend/bs_worker b/src/backend/bs_worker
index d7c49b97755..32e8a2c2002 100755
--- a/src/backend/bs_worker
+++ b/src/backend/bs_worker
@@ -3495,15 +3495,11 @@ sub createreport {
 
 sub normalize_container {
   my ($container, $recompress, $tmpdir) = @_;
-  local *TAR;
-  open(TAR, '<', $container) || die("$container: $!\n");
-  my ($tar, $mtime, undef, undef, $layercomp) = BSContar::normalize_container(\*TAR, $recompress, undef, $tmpdir);
+  my ($tar, $mtime, undef, undef, $layercomp) = BSContar::normalize_container($container, $recompress, undef, $tmpdir);
   if (grep {$_ && $_ ne 'gzip'} @{$layercomp || []}) {
-    close(TAR);
     die("non-gzip layer compression, not normalizing container\n");
   }
   BSTar::writetarfile("$container.new", undef, $tar, 'mtime' => $mtime);
-  close(TAR);
   if (-f "$container.sha256") {
     open(NEWTAR, '<', "$container.new") || die("$container.new: $!\n");
     my $ctx = Digest::SHA->new(256);