Index: Lib/distutils/tests/test_sdist.py
===================================================================
--- Lib/distutils/tests/test_sdist.py	(revision 69030)
+++ Lib/distutils/tests/test_sdist.py	(working copy)
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 from distutils.core import Distribution
 from distutils.tests.test_config import PyPIRCCommandTestCase
 from distutils.errors import DistutilsExecError
-from distutils.spawn import spawn
+from distutils.spawn import find_executable
 
 CURDIR = os.path.dirname(__file__)
 TEMP_PKG = join(CURDIR, 'temppkg')
@@ -113,13 +113,12 @@
 
         self._init_tmp_pkg()
 
-        # check if tar is installed under win32
+        # check if tar and gzip are installed under win32
         if sys.platform == 'win32':
-            try:
-                spawn('tar --help')
-            except DistutilsExecError:
-                # let's return, no need to go further
-                return
+            for executable in ['tar', 'gzip']:
+                if find_executable(executable) is None:
+                    # let's return, no need to go further
+                    return
 
         # now building a sdist
         dist = Distribution()