diff --git a/Lib/distutils/archive_util.py b/Lib/distutils/archive_util.py
index 218450a..3159c28 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/archive_util.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/archive_util.py
@@ -127,7 +127,6 @@
 def make_archive (base_name, format,
                   root_dir=None, base_dir=None,
                   verbose=0, dry_run=0):
-
     """Create an archive file (eg. zip or tar).  'base_name' is the name
     of the file to create, minus any format-specific extension; 'format'
     is the archive format: one of "zip", "tar", "ztar", or "gztar".
@@ -136,8 +135,8 @@
     archive.  'base_dir' is the directory where we start archiving from;
     ie. 'base_dir' will be the common prefix of all files and
     directories in the archive.  'root_dir' and 'base_dir' both default
-    to the current directory."""
-
+    to the current directory.  Returns the name of the archive file.
+    """
     save_cwd = os.getcwd()
     if root_dir is not None:
         if verbose:
@@ -160,11 +159,13 @@
     func = format_info[0]
     for (arg,val) in format_info[1]:
         kwargs[arg] = val
-    apply (func, (base_name, base_dir), kwargs)
+    filename = apply (func, (base_name, base_dir), kwargs)
 
     if root_dir is not None:
         if verbose:
             print "changing back to '%s'" % save_cwd
         os.chdir (save_cwd)
 
+    return filename
+
 # make_archive ()