diff --git a/Lib/distutils/archive_util.py b/Lib/distutils/archive_util.py
index bae425b..050ea41 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/archive_util.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/archive_util.py
@@ -15,12 +15,12 @@
 def make_tarball (base_name, base_dir, compress="gzip",
                   verbose=0, dry_run=0):
     """Create a (possibly compressed) tar file from all the files under
-       'base_dir'.  'compress' must be "gzip" (the default), "compress", or
-       None.  Both "tar" and the compression utility named by 'compress'
-       must be on the default program search path, so this is probably
-       Unix-specific.  The output tar file will be named 'base_dir' +
-       ".tar", possibly plus the appropriate compression extension
-       (".gz" or ".Z").  Return the output filename."""
+       'base_dir'.  'compress' must be "gzip" (the default), "compress",
+       "bzip2", or None.  Both "tar" and the compression utility named by
+       'compress' must be on the default program search path, so this is
+       probably Unix-specific.  The output tar file will be named 'base_dir'
+       + ".tar", possibly plus the appropriate compression extension (".gz",
+       ".bz2" or ".Z").  Return the output filename."""
 
     # XXX GNU tar 1.13 has a nifty option to add a prefix directory.
     # It's pretty new, though, so we certainly can't require it --
@@ -29,9 +29,15 @@
     # detect GNU tar to use its 'z' option and save a step.)
 
     compress_ext = { 'gzip': ".gz",
+                     'bzip2': '.bz2',
                      'compress': ".Z" }
+    
+    # flags for compression program, each element of list will be an argument
+    compress_flags = {'gzip': ["-f9"],
+                      'compress': ["-f"],
+                      'bzip2': ['-f9']}
 
-    if compress is not None and compress not in ('gzip', 'compress'):
+    if compress is not None and compress not in compress_ext.keys():
         raise ValueError, \
               "bad value for 'compress': must be None, 'gzip', or 'compress'"
 
@@ -40,7 +46,8 @@
     spawn (cmd, verbose=verbose, dry_run=dry_run)
 
     if compress:
-        spawn ([compress, archive_name], verbose=verbose, dry_run=dry_run)
+        spawn ([compress] + compress_flags[compress] + [archive_name],
+               verbose=verbose, dry_run=dry_run)
         return archive_name + compress_ext[compress]
     else:
         return archive_name
@@ -104,6 +111,7 @@
 
 ARCHIVE_FORMATS = {
     'gztar': (make_tarball, [('compress', 'gzip')]),
+    'bztar': (make_tarball, [('compress', 'bzip2')]),
     'ztar':  (make_tarball, [('compress', 'compress')]),
     'tar':   (make_tarball, [('compress', None)]),
     'zip':   (make_zipfile, [])
diff --git a/Lib/distutils/command/bdist.py b/Lib/distutils/command/bdist.py
index 685f525..cde8dd6 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/command/bdist.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/command/bdist.py
@@ -18,7 +18,8 @@
     description = "create a built (binary) distribution"
 
     user_options = [('format=', 'f',
-                     "format for distribution (tar, ztar, gztar, zip, ... )"),
+                     "format for distribution " +
+                     "(tar, ztar, gztar, bztar, zip, ... )"),
                    ]
 
     # This won't do in reality: will need to distinguish RPM-ish Linux,
@@ -27,6 +28,7 @@
                        'nt': 'zip', }
 
     format_command = { 'gztar': 'bdist_dumb',
+                       'bztar': 'bdist_dumb',
                        'ztar':  'bdist_dumb',
                        'tar':   'bdist_dumb',
                        'zip':   'bdist_dumb', }
diff --git a/Lib/distutils/command/sdist.py b/Lib/distutils/command/sdist.py
index 8aa4618..8d9a465 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/command/sdist.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/command/sdist.py
@@ -33,9 +33,8 @@
          "just regenerate the manifest and then stop"),
         ('force-manifest', None,
          "forcibly regenerate the manifest and carry on as usual"),
-
         ('formats=', None,
-         "formats for source distribution (tar, ztar, gztar, or zip)"),
+         "formats for source distribution (tar, ztar, gztar, bztar, or zip)"),
         ('keep-tree', 'k',
          "keep the distribution tree around after creating " +
          "archive file(s)"),