Python function to zip up a directory and preserve any symlinks and empty directories.

ZipDir.py

import os
import zipfile

def ZipDir(inputDir, outputZip):
    '''Zip up a directory and preserve symlinks and empty directories'''
    zipOut = zipfile.ZipFile(outputZip, 'w', compression=zipfile.ZIP_DEFLATED)
    
    rootLen = len(os.path.dirname(inputDir))
    def _ArchiveDirectory(parentDirectory):
        contents = os.listdir(parentDirectory)
        #store empty directories
        if not contents:
            #http://www.velocityreviews.com/forums/t318840-add-empty-directory-using-zipfile.html
            archiveRoot = parentDirectory[rootLen:].replace('\\', '/').lstrip('/')
            zipInfo = zipfile.ZipInfo(archiveRoot+'/')
            zipOut.writestr(zipInfo, '')
        for item in contents:
            fullPath = os.path.join(parentDirectory, item)
            if os.path.isdir(fullPath) and not os.path.islink(fullPath):
                _ArchiveDirectory(fullPath)
            else:
                archiveRoot = fullPath[rootLen:].replace('\\', '/').lstrip('/')
                if os.path.islink(fullPath):
                    # http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg34223.html
                    zipInfo = zipfile.ZipInfo(archiveRoot)
                    zipInfo.create_system = 3
                    # long type of hex val of '0xA1ED0000L',
                    # say, symlink attr magic...
                    zipInfo.external_attr = 2716663808L
                    zipOut.writestr(zipInfo, os.readlink(fullPath))
                else:
                    zipOut.write(fullPath, archiveRoot, zipfile.ZIP_DEFLATED)
    _ArchiveDirectory(inputDir)
    
    zipOut.close()

For an explanation of what zipInfo.external_attr actually means, look here: http://unix.stackexchange.com/a/14727