diff --git a/mktarball.py b/mktarball.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..478acd2d8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mktarball.py
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+#! /usr/bin/env python
+
+import os
+
+src = os.getcwd()
+tar = src + ".tar"
+gz = tar + ".gz"
+tgz = src + ".tgz"
+
+os.system("tar --exclude=CVS -cvf %s %s" % (tar, src))
+os.system("gzip -9v %s" % tar)
+os.rename(gz, tgz)