diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 5071e60..e634aac 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -69,4 +69,9 @@
 	$(INSTALL_DATA) klcc.1 $(INSTALLROOT)$(mandir)/man1/$(KCROSS)klcc.1
 	$(INSTALL_EXEC) $(KCROSS)klcc $(INSTALLROOT)$(bindir)
 
+# This does all the prep work needed to turn a freshly exported git repository
+# into a release tarball tree
+release: klibc.spec
+	rm -f maketar.sh
+
 -include MCONFIG
diff --git a/maketar.sh b/maketar.sh
index d8e26c3..4a9410f 100755
--- a/maketar.sh
+++ b/maketar.sh
@@ -9,8 +9,7 @@
 rm -rf $tmp
 cg-export $tmp
 cd $tmp
-rm -f maketar.sh
-make klibc.spec
+make release
 version=`cat version`
 rm -rf $tmpdir/klibc-$version
 mv $tmp $tmpdir/klibc-$version