How can files be added to a tarfile with Python, without adding the directory hierarchy?

Question

When I invoke add() on a tarfile object with a file path, the file is added to the tarball with directory hierarchy associated. In other words, if

Answer 1

thanks to @diabloneo, function to create selective tarball of a dir

def compress(output_file="archive.tar.gz", output_dir='', root_dir='.', items=[]):
    """compress dirs.

    KWArgs
    ------
    output_file : str, default ="archive.tar.gz"
    output_dir : str, default = ''
        absolute path to output
    root_dir='.',
        absolute path to input root dir
    items : list
        list of dirs/items relative to root dir

    """
    os.chdir(root_dir)
    with tarfile.open(os.path.join(output_dir, output_file), "w:gz") as tar:
        for item in items:
            tar.add(item, arcname=item)    


>>>root_dir = "/abs/pth/to/dir/"
>>>compress(output_file="archive.tar.gz", output_dir=root_dir, 
            root_dir=root_dir, items=["logs", "output"])