this is it cleaned up a tad:

  # Thanks to the live-bootstrap project!
  # See https://github.com/fosslinux/live-bootstrap/blob/e86db47b6ee40d68e26866dd15e8637f64d6d778/sysa/coreutils-5.0/coreutils-5.0.kaem
  liveBootstrap = "${live-bootstrap-srcs."e86db47b6ee40d68e26866dd15e8637f64d6d778"}/live-bootstrap-e86db47b6ee40d68e26866dd15e8637f64d6d778/sysa/coreutils-5.0";

  makefile = "${liveBootstrap}/mk/main.mk";

  patches = [
    # modechange.h uses functions defined in sys/stat.h, so we need to move it to
    # after sys/stat.h include.
    "${liveBootstrap}/patches/modechange.patch"
    # mbstate_t is a struct that is required. However, it is not defined by mes libc.
    "${liveBootstrap}/patches/mbstate.patch"
    # strcoll() does not exist in mes libc, change it to strcmp.
    "${liveBootstrap}/patches/ls-strcmp.patch"
    # getdate.c is pre-compiled from getdate.y
    # At this point we don't have bison yet and in any case getdate.y does not
    # compile when generated with modern bison.
    # - untar drops files at the root when there are duplicates across the tar file
    "${live-bootstrap-srcs."e86db47b6ee40d68e26866dd15e8637f64d6d778"}/touch-getdate.patch"
    # touch: add -h to change symlink timestamps, where supported
    # - untar drops files at the root when there are duplicates across the tar file
    "${live-bootstrap-srcs."e86db47b6ee40d68e26866dd15e8637f64d6d778"}/touch-dereference.patch"
    # strcoll() does not exist in mes libc, change it to strcmp.
    "${live-bootstrap}/patches/expr-strcmp.patch0000664"
    # strcoll() does not exist in mes libc, change it to strcmp.
    # hard_LC_COLLATE is used but not declared when HAVE_SETLOCALE is unset.
    "${live-bootstrap}/patches/sort-locale.patch0000664"
  ];

this is it cleaned up a tad:

  # Thanks to the live-bootstrap project!
  # See https://github.com/fosslinux/live-bootstrap/blob/e86db47b6ee40d68e26866dd15e8637f64d6d778/sysa/coreutils-5.0/coreutils-5.0.kaem
  liveBootstrap = "${live-bootstrap-srcs."e86db47b6ee40d68e26866dd15e8637f64d6d778"}/live-bootstrap-e86db47b6ee40d68e26866dd15e8637f64d6d778/sysa/coreutils-5.0";

  makefile = "${liveBootstrap}/mk/main.mk";

  patches = [
    # modechange.h uses functions defined in sys/stat.h, so we need to move it to
    # after sys/stat.h include.
    "${liveBootstrap}/patches/modechange.patch"
    # mbstate_t is a struct that is required. However, it is not defined by mes libc.
    "${liveBootstrap}/patches/mbstate.patch"
    # strcoll() does not exist in mes libc, change it to strcmp.
    "${liveBootstrap}/patches/ls-strcmp.patch"
    # getdate.c is pre-compiled from getdate.y
    # At this point we don't have bison yet and in any case getdate.y does not
    # compile when generated with modern bison.
    # - untar drops files at the root when there are duplicates across the tar file
    "${live-bootstrap-srcs."e86db47b6ee40d68e26866dd15e8637f64d6d778"}/touch-getdate.patch"
    # touch: add -h to change symlink timestamps, where supported
    # - untar drops files at the root when there are duplicates across the tar file
    "${live-bootstrap-srcs."e86db47b6ee40d68e26866dd15e8637f64d6d778"}/touch-dereference.patch"
    # strcoll() does not exist in mes libc, change it to strcmp.
    "${live-bootstrap}/patches/expr-strcmp.patch0000664"
    # strcoll() does not exist in mes libc, change it to strcmp.
    # hard_LC_COLLATE is used but not declared when HAVE_SETLOCALE is unset.
    "${live-bootstrap}/patches/sort-locale.patch0000664"
  ];

In reply to @j-k:matrix.org
I have been wrestling with untar the live-bootstrap tarball.

if there are multiple files of the same name it dumps them in PWD instead of the right place...
and for some files it leaves them in one place but appends what look like file permissions to the end? 👀

in actuality the nix doesn't need to be that hideous, I can abstract out some prefixes but it expresses my current mood quite well

hmmmm it might be some kind of maximum file length thing at least for the suffix

$ tar tvx
drwxrwxr-x root/root         0 1900-01-00 00:00 live-bootstrap-e86db47b6ee40d68e26866dd15e8637f64d6d778/sysc/python-3.3.7/patches/
-rw-rw-r-- root/root       706 1900-01-00 00:00 install-perms.patch
-rw-rw-r-- root/root       606 1900-01-00 00:00 live-bootstrap-e86db47b6ee40d68e26866dd15e8637f64d6d778/sysc/python-3.3.7/patches/symbol.patch
-rwxrwxr-x root/root      2550 1900-01-00 00:00 live-bootstrap-e86db47b6ee40d68e26866dd15e8637f64d6d778/sysc/python-3.3.7/python-3.3.7.sh
-rw-rw-r-- root/root      3084 1900-01-00 00:00 live-bootstrap-e86db47b6ee40d68e26866dd15e8637f64d6d778/sysc/python-3.3.7/sources
drwxrwxr-x root/root         0 1900-01-00 00:00 live-bootstrap-e86db47b6ee40d68e26866dd15e8637f64d6d778/sysc/python-3.4.10/
drwxrwxr-x root/root         0 1900-01-00 00:00 live-bootstrap-e86db47b6ee40d68e26866dd15e8637f64d6d778/sysc/python-3.4.10/patches/
-rw-rw-r-- root/root       706 1900-01-00 00:00 install-perms.patch
-rw-rw-r-- root/root       606 1900-01-00 00:00 live-bootstrap-e86db47b6ee40d68e26866dd15e8637f64d6d778/sysc/python-3.4.10/patches/symbol.patch
-rwxrwxr-x root/root      2655 1900-01-00 00:00 live-bootstrap-e86db47b6ee40d68e26866dd15e8637f64d6d778/sysc/python-3.4.10/python-3.4.10.sh
-rw-rw-r-- root/root      3086 1900-01-00 00:00 live-bootstrap-e86db47b6ee40d68e26866dd15e8637f64d6d778/sysc/python-3.4.10/sources
# ...
-rw-rw-r-- root/root       560 1900-01-00 00:00 live-bootstrap-e86db47b6ee40d68e26866dd15e8637f64d6d778/sysa/coreutils-5.0/patches/modechange.patch
-rw-rw-r-- root/root      1152 1900-01-00 00:00 live-bootstrap-e86db47b6ee40d68e26866dd15e8637f64d6d778/sysa/coreutils-5.0/patches/sort-locale.patc
-rw-rw-r-- root/root       752 1900-01-00 00:00 live-bootstrap-e86db47b6ee40d68e26866dd15e8637f64d6d778/sysa/coreutils-5.0/patches/tac-uint64.patch