diff --git a/common.ant.xml b/common.ant.xml
index 8575f4d..9fde76c 100755
--- a/common.ant.xml
+++ b/common.ant.xml
@@ -186,10 +186,11 @@
 
 	<macrodef name="gwt.tgz.cat">
 		<attribute name="destfile" />
+		<attribute name="compression" default="gzip" />
 		<element name="tar.elements" implicit="true" optional="true" />
 		<sequential>
 			<taskdef name="tar.cat" classname="com.google.gwt.ant.taskdefs.TarCat" classpath="${gwt.build.lib}/ant-gwt.jar" />
-			<tar.cat destfile="@{destfile}" compression="gzip" longfile="gnu">
+			<tar.cat destfile="@{destfile}" compression="@{compression}" longfile="gnu">
 				<tar.elements />
 			</tar.cat>
 		</sequential>
diff --git a/distro-source/linux/build.xml b/distro-source/linux/build.xml
index 6ffb9eb..fc10736 100755
--- a/distro-source/linux/build.xml
+++ b/distro-source/linux/build.xml
@@ -2,12 +2,12 @@
 	<property name="dist.platform" value="linux" />
 	<property name="dist.platform.detail" value="linux" />
 	<import file="../common.ant.xml" />
-	<property name="project.dist" location="${gwt.build.dist}/${project.distname}.tar.gz" />
+	<property name="project.dist" location="${gwt.build.dist}/${project.distname}.tar.bz2" />
 
 	<target name="build" depends="filter" description="Packages the distro">
 		<!-- TODO: figure out how to share most of this across platforms -->
 		<mkdir dir="${gwt.build.dist}" />
-		<gwt.tgz.cat destfile="${project.dist}">
+		<gwt.tgz.cat destfile="${project.dist}" compression="bzip2">
 			<!-- jars -->
 			<tarfileset file="${gwt.build.lib}/gwt-dev-${dist.platform}.jar" prefix="${project.distname}" />
 			<tarfileset file="${gwt.build.lib}/gwt-user.jar" prefix="${project.distname}" />
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@
 				-->
 				<mkdir dir="${gwt.build.staging}" />
 				<exec executable="tar">
-					<arg value="-xpzf" />
+					<arg value="-xpjf" />
 					<arg file="${project.dist}" />
 					<arg value="-C" />
 					<arg file="${gwt.build.staging}" />