diff --git a/bin/build-helper b/bin/build-helper
index de4ced71..963f02f9 100755
--- a/bin/build-helper
+++ b/bin/build-helper
@@ -200,7 +200,10 @@ eof
                 || exit 1
             # make sure target version is generated
             "$0" target-version
-            tar -r -f "${archivename}" cdist/version.py || exit 1
+            tar -x -f "${archivename}" || exit 1
+            cp cdist/version.py "cdist-${tag}/cdist/version.py" || exit 1
+            tar -c -f "${archivename}" "cdist-${tag}/" || exit 1
+            rm -r -f "cdist-${tag}/"
             gzip "${archivename}" || exit 1
             archivename="${archivename}.gz"
         fi
diff --git a/bin/build-helper.freebsd b/bin/build-helper.freebsd
index 2c5a54a7..58d985a6 100755
--- a/bin/build-helper.freebsd
+++ b/bin/build-helper.freebsd
@@ -235,7 +235,10 @@ eof
                 || exit 1
             # make sure target version is generated
             "$0" target-version
-            tar -r -f "${archivename}" cdist/version.py || exit 1
+            tar -x -f "${archivename}" || exit 1
+            cp cdist/version.py "cdist-${tag}/cdist/version.py" || exit 1
+            tar -c -f "${archivename}" "cdist-${tag}/" || exit 1
+            rm -r -f "cdist-${tag}/"
             gzip "${archivename}" || exit 1
             archivename="${archivename}.gz"
         fi