diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 0affba0..e49cbb8 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -1,138 +1,134 @@
 # Copyright (C) 2010 Red Hat, Inc.
 #
 # Authors: Andrew Beekhof <abeekhof@redhat.com>
 #	   Steven Dake <sdake@redhat.com>
 #	   Angus Salkeld <asalkeld@redhat.com>
 #
 # This file is part of libqb.
 #
 # libqb is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
 # it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by
 # the Free Software Foundation, either version 2.1 of the License, or
 # (at your option) any later version.
 #
 # libqb is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 # but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 # MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
 # GNU Lesser General Public License for more details.
 #
 # You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License
 # along with libqb.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 
 SPEC			= $(PACKAGE_NAME).spec
 
-TARFILE			= $(PACKAGE_NAME)-$(VERSION).tar.gz
-
 EXTRA_DIST		= autogen.sh $(SPEC).in \
 			  build-aux/git-version-gen \
 			  build-aux/gitlog-to-changelog \
 			  build-aux/release.mk \
 			  .version
 
 AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS	= foreign
 
 MAINTAINERCLEANFILES	= Makefile.in aclocal.m4 configure depcomp \
 			  config.guess config.sub missing install-sh \
 			  autoheader automake autoconf libtool libtoolize \
 			  ltmain.sh compile build-aux/test-driver
 
 
 ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS		= -I m4
 
 dist_doc_DATA		= COPYING INSTALL README.markdown
 
 SUBDIRS			= include lib docs tools tests examples
 
 doxygen:
 	$(MAKE) -C docs doxygen
 
 dist-clean-local:
 	$(AM_V_GEN)rm -f autoconf automake autoheader
 
 maintainer-clean-local:
 	$(AM_V_GEN)rm -rf m4
 	$(AM_V_GEN)rm -f .version .tarball-version
 
 clean-generic:
-	$(AM_V_GEN)rm -rf $(SPEC) $(TARFILE)
+	$(AM_V_GEN)rm -rf $(SPEC) $(DIST_ARCHIVES)
 
 ## make rpm/srpm section.
 
 $(SPEC): $(SPEC).in
 	$(AM_V_GEN)rm -f $@-t $@
 	date="$(shell LC_ALL=C date "+%a %b %d %Y")" && \
 	if [ -f .tarball-version ]; then \
 		gitver="$(shell cat .tarball-version)" && \
 		rpmver=$$gitver && \
 		alphatag="" && \
 		dirty="" && \
 		numcomm="0"; \
 	else \
 		gitver="$(shell git describe --abbrev=4 --match='v*' --tags HEAD 2>/dev/null)" && \
 		rpmver=`echo $$gitver | sed -e "s/^v//" -e "s/-.*//g"` && \
 		alphatag=`echo $$gitver | sed -e "s/.*-//" -e "s/^g//"` && \
 		vtag=`echo $$gitver | sed -e "s/-.*//g"` && \
 		numcomm=`git rev-list $$vtag..HEAD | wc -l` && \
 		git update-index --refresh > /dev/null 2>&1 || true && \
 		dirty=`git diff-index --name-only HEAD 2>/dev/null`; \
 	fi && \
 	if [ -n "$$dirty" ]; then dirty="dirty"; else dirty=""; fi && \
 	if [ "$$numcomm" = "0" ]; then \
 		sed \
 			-e "s#@version@#$$rpmver#g" \
 			-e "s#%glo.*alpha.*##g" \
 			-e "s#%glo.*numcomm.*##g" \
 			-e "s#@dirty@#$$dirty#g" \
 			-e "s#@date@#$$date#g" \
 		$< > $@-t; \
 	else \
 		sed \
 			-e "s#@version@#$$rpmver#g" \
 			-e "s#@alphatag@#$$alphatag#g" \
 			-e "s#@numcomm@#$$numcomm#g" \
 			-e "s#@dirty@#$$dirty#g" \
 			-e "s#@date@#$$date#g" \
 		$< > $@-t; \
 	fi; \
 	if [ -z "$$dirty" ]; then sed -i -e "s#%glo.*dirty.*##g" $@-t; fi
 	$(AM_V_GEN)chmod a-w $@-t
 	$(AM_V_GEN)mv $@-t $@
 
-$(TARFILE):
-	$(MAKE) dist
-
 RPMBUILDOPTS	= --define "_sourcedir $(abs_builddir)" \
 		  --define "_specdir $(abs_builddir)" \
 		  --define "_builddir $(abs_builddir)" \
 		  --define "_srcrpmdir $(abs_builddir)" \
 		  --define "_rpmdir $(abs_builddir)"
 
-tarball: $(TARFILE)
+# generates both .tar.[gx]z (backward compatibility)
+tarball: dist
 
 srpm: clean
 	autoreconf -if
-	$(MAKE) $(SPEC) tarball
+	$(MAKE) $(SPEC) dist-gzip
 	rpmbuild $(RPMBUILDOPTS) --nodeps -bs $(SPEC)
 
 rpm: clean
 	autoreconf -if
-	$(MAKE) $(SPEC) tarball
+	$(MAKE) $(SPEC) dist-gzip
 	rpmbuild $(RPMBUILDOPTS) -ba $(SPEC)
 
 # release/versioning
 BUILT_SOURCES	= .version
 .version:
 	echo $(VERSION) > $@-t && mv $@-t $@
 
 dist-hook: gen-ChangeLog
 	echo $(VERSION) > $(distdir)/.tarball-version
 
 gen_start_date = 2000-01-01
 .PHONY: gen-ChangeLog
 gen-ChangeLog:
 	if test -d .git; then						\
 		$(top_srcdir)/build-aux/gitlog-to-changelog		\
 			--since=$(gen_start_date) > $(distdir)/cl-t;	\
 		rm -f $(distdir)/ChangeLog;				\
 		mv $(distdir)/cl-t $(distdir)/ChangeLog;		\
 	fi