diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 2f2b0b16..f9e25c5b 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -7,4 +7,6 @@ build/
 /gearyd
 /geary-mailer
 /geary-console
+*.gz
+*.bz2
 
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 883141ca..cf597867 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -81,3 +81,13 @@ if (DESKTOP_UPDATE)
     )
 endif ()
 
+# Dist
+# This generates the dist tarballs
+set(ARCHIVE_NAME ${CMAKE_PROJECT_NAME}-${VERSION})
+add_custom_target(dist
+    COMMAND git archive --prefix=${ARCHIVE_NAME}/ HEAD
+        | bzip2 > ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/${ARCHIVE_NAME}.tar.bz2
+    COMMAND git archive --prefix=${ARCHIVE_NAME}/ HEAD
+        | gzip > ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/${ARCHIVE_NAME}.tar.gz
+    WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR})
+
diff --git a/Makefile.in b/Makefile.in
index 95c6da01..9ee8bc8b 100644
--- a/Makefile.in
+++ b/Makefile.in
@@ -27,3 +27,9 @@ distclean: clean
 	@-rm -rf $(BUILD_DIR)
 	@-rm -f Makefile
 
+.PHONY: dist
+dist:
+	@$(MAKE) -C $(BUILD_DIR) dist
+	@cp build/*.gz .
+	@cp build/*.bz2 .
+