diff --git a/build_tools/make_tarball.sh b/build_tools/make_tarball.sh
index ec5322af4..b74fc9c4e 100755
--- a/build_tools/make_tarball.sh
+++ b/build_tools/make_tarball.sh
@@ -34,8 +34,8 @@ make share/man
 cd /tmp
 rm -f "$prefix"
 ln -s "$wd" "$prefix"
-tar --append --file="$path" "$prefix"/user_doc/html
-tar --append --file="$path" "$prefix"/share/man
+gnutar --append --file="$path" "$prefix"/user_doc/html
+gnutar --append --file="$path" "$prefix"/share/man
 rm -f "$prefix"
 
 # gzip it