diff --git a/mktarball.sh b/mktarball.sh
index ee6b246a..13b3700c 100755
--- a/mktarball.sh
+++ b/mktarball.sh
@@ -1,15 +1,19 @@
 #! /bin/bash
 #script to create a source tarball for YACReader distribution and packaging
 YACVERSION=7.2.0
-
-if [ ! -f "yacreader-${YACVERSION}-src.tar.xz" ]
+if [ -f Makefile ]
+then
+	make distclean
+fi
+if [ ! -f "yacreader_${YACVERSION}-src.tar.xz" ]
 then
 	echo "Building source tarball"
 else
 	echo "Updating source tarball"
-	rm yacreader-${YACVERSION}-src.tar* #delete old tarball, since tar can't update compressed archives
+	rm yacreader_${YACVERSION}-src.tar* #delete old tarball, since tar can't update compressed archives
 fi
-
-tar cfJ yacreader-${YACVERSION}-src.tar.xz --exclude-vcs --exclude-vcs-ignores --exclude 'dependencies' \
---exclude 'yacreader*tar*' ./* --transform s/./yacreader-${YACVERSION}/
-md5sum yacreader-${YACVERSION}-src.tar.xz > yacreader-${YACVERSION}-src.tar.xz.md5sum
+#use --exclude to make sure we get a pristine tar
+#might not work out of the box with bsdtar!
+tar cfJ yacreader_${YACVERSION}-src.tar.xz  --exclude '*.rej' --exclude '*.orig' --exclude '*.gch' --exclude 'dependencies' \
+--exclude 'yacreader*tar*' --exclude '.hg*' --exclude 'libp7zip' --exclude 'lib7zip' ./* --transform s/./yacreader_${YACVERSION}/
+md5sum yacreader_${YACVERSION}-src.tar.xz > yacreader_${YACVERSION}-src.tar.xz.md5sum
\ No newline at end of file