diff -r 0acc5626a578 Doc/distutils/apiref.rst
--- a/Doc/distutils/apiref.rst	Tue Oct 23 22:50:11 2012 +0100
+++ b/Doc/distutils/apiref.rst	Thu Oct 25 00:23:33 2012 +0300
@@ -870,23 +870,25 @@
 
    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``. *root_dir* is
-   a directory that will be the root directory of the archive; ie. we typically
-   ``chdir`` into *root_dir* before  creating the 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.  Returns the name of the archive file.
+   archive format: one of ``zip``, ``tar``, ``ztar``, ``gztar``, ``bztar``, or
+   ``xztar``. *root_dir* is a directory that will be the root directory of the
+   archive; ie. we typically ``chdir`` into *root_dir* before  creating the
+   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.
+   Returns the name of the archive file.
 
 
 .. function:: make_tarball(base_name, base_dir[, compress='gzip', verbose=0, dry_run=0])
 
    'Create an (optional compressed) archive as a tar file from all files in and
-   under *base_dir*. *compress* must be ``'gzip'`` (the default),  ``'compress'``,
-   ``'bzip2'``, or ``None``.  Both :program:`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 :file:`base_dir.tar`,
-   possibly plus the appropriate compression extension (:file:`.gz`, :file:`.bz2`
-   or :file:`.Z`).  Return the output filename.
+   under *base_dir*. *compress* must be ``'gzip'`` (the default),
+   ``'compress'``, ``'bzip2'``, ``'xz'``, or ``None``.  Both :program:`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 :file:`base_dir.tar`, possibly plus the appropriate
+   compression extension (:file:`.gz`, :file:`.bz2`, :file:`.xz` or
+   :file:`.Z`).  Return the output filename.
 
 
 .. function:: make_zipfile(base_name, base_dir[, verbose=0, dry_run=0])
diff -r 0acc5626a578 Doc/distutils/sourcedist.rst
--- a/Doc/distutils/sourcedist.rst	Tue Oct 23 22:50:11 2012 +0100
+++ b/Doc/distutils/sourcedist.rst	Thu Oct 25 00:23:33 2012 +0300
@@ -32,6 +32,9 @@
 | ``bztar`` | bzip2'ed tar file       | \(4)    |
 |           | (:file:`.tar.bz2`)      |         |
 +-----------+-------------------------+---------+
+| ``xztar`` | xz'ed tar file          | \(4)    |
+|           | (:file:`.tar.xz`)       |         |
++-----------+-------------------------+---------+
 | ``ztar``  | compressed tar file     | \(4)    |
 |           | (:file:`.tar.Z`)        |         |
 +-----------+-------------------------+---------+
@@ -52,7 +55,7 @@
 
 (4)
    requires external utilities: :program:`tar` and possibly one of :program:`gzip`,
-   :program:`bzip2`, or :program:`compress`
+   :program:`bzip2`, :program:`xz`, or :program:`compress`
 
 
 .. _manifest:
diff -r 0acc5626a578 Lib/distutils/archive_util.py
--- a/Lib/distutils/archive_util.py	Tue Oct 23 22:50:11 2012 +0100
+++ b/Lib/distutils/archive_util.py	Thu Oct 25 00:23:33 2012 +0300
@@ -22,21 +22,23 @@
     """Create a (possibly compressed) tar file from all the files under
     '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.
+    'compress' must be "gzip" (the default), "compress", "bzip2", "xz", 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").
+    the appropriate compression extension (".gz", ".bz2", ".xz" or ".Z").
     Returns the output filename.
     """
-    tar_compression = {'gzip': 'gz', 'bzip2': 'bz2', None: '', 'compress': ''}
-    compress_ext = {'gzip': '.gz', 'bzip2': '.bz2', 'compress': '.Z'}
+    tar_compression = {'gzip': 'gz', 'bzip2': 'bz2', 'xz': 'xz', None: '',
+                       'compress': ''}
+    compress_ext = {'gzip': '.gz', 'bzip2': '.bz2', 'xz': '.xz',
+                    'compress': '.Z'}
 
     # flags for compression program, each element of list will be an argument
     if compress is not None and compress not in compress_ext.keys():
         raise ValueError(
-              "bad value for 'compress': must be None, 'gzip', 'bzip2' "
-              "or 'compress'")
+              "bad value for 'compress': must be None, 'gzip', 'bzip2', "
+              "'xz' or 'compress'")
 
     archive_name = base_name + '.tar'
     if compress != 'compress':