diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index c1f18e8..0c2846e 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -11,10 +11,12 @@
 	rm -f metche.8
 
 VERSION=$(shell head -n1 Changelog | awk '{print $$1}')
+TARBALL=../metche-$(VERSION).tar.gz
 release: Changelog
+	! [ -f $(TARBALL) ]
 	git archive \
 	   --prefix=metche-$(VERSION)/ \
-	   --output=../metche-$(VERSION).tar.gz \
+	   --output=$(TARBALL) \
 	   master
 
 .PHONY: all doc clean distclean