diff --git a/Source/cmCTest.cxx b/Source/cmCTest.cxx
index f02d78e69..e1391a71b 100644
--- a/Source/cmCTest.cxx
+++ b/Source/cmCTest.cxx
@@ -1675,7 +1675,7 @@ std::string cmCTest::Base64GzipEncodeFile(std::string file)
   files.push_back(file);
 
   if(!cmSystemTools::CreateTar(tarFile.c_str(), files,
-                               true, false, false, false))
+                               cmSystemTools::TarCompressGZip, false))
     {
     cmCTestLog(this, ERROR_MESSAGE, "Error creating tar while "
       "encoding file: " << file << std::endl);
diff --git a/Source/cmSystemTools.cxx b/Source/cmSystemTools.cxx
index cd633472a..963ca77e5 100644
--- a/Source/cmSystemTools.cxx
+++ b/Source/cmSystemTools.cxx
@@ -1482,7 +1482,7 @@ bool cmSystemTools::IsPathToFramework(const char* path)
 
 bool cmSystemTools::CreateTar(const char* outFileName,
                               const std::vector<std::string>& files,
-                              bool gzip, bool bzip2, bool xz,
+                              cmTarCompression compressType,
                               bool verbose)
 {
 #if defined(CMAKE_BUILD_WITH_CMAKE)
@@ -1497,11 +1497,24 @@ bool cmSystemTools::CreateTar(const char* outFileName,
     cmSystemTools::Error(e.c_str());
     return false;
     }
-  cmArchiveWrite a(fout, (gzip? cmArchiveWrite::CompressGZip :
-                          (bzip2? cmArchiveWrite::CompressBZip2 :
-                           (xz? cmArchiveWrite::CompressXZ :
-                           cmArchiveWrite::CompressNone))),
-                           cmArchiveWrite::TypeTAR);
+  cmArchiveWrite::Compress compress = cmArchiveWrite::CompressNone;
+  switch (compressType)
+    {
+    case TarCompressGZip:
+      compress = cmArchiveWrite::CompressGZip;
+      break;
+    case TarCompressBZip2:
+      compress = cmArchiveWrite::CompressBZip2;
+      break;
+    case TarCompressXZ:
+      compress = cmArchiveWrite::CompressXZ;
+      break;
+    case TarCompressNone:
+      compress = cmArchiveWrite::CompressNone;
+      break;
+    }
+  cmArchiveWrite a(fout, compress,
+                   cmArchiveWrite::TypeTAR);
   a.SetVerbose(verbose);
   for(std::vector<std::string>::const_iterator i = files.begin();
       i != files.end(); ++i)
@@ -1526,7 +1539,6 @@ bool cmSystemTools::CreateTar(const char* outFileName,
 #else
   (void)outFileName;
   (void)files;
-  (void)gzip;
   (void)verbose;
   return false;
 #endif
@@ -1787,7 +1799,7 @@ bool extract_tar(const char* outFileName, bool verbose,
 #endif
 
 bool cmSystemTools::ExtractTar(const char* outFileName,
-                               bool , bool verbose)
+                               bool verbose)
 {
 #if defined(CMAKE_BUILD_WITH_CMAKE)
   return extract_tar(outFileName, verbose, true);
@@ -1799,7 +1811,6 @@ bool cmSystemTools::ExtractTar(const char* outFileName,
 }
 
 bool cmSystemTools::ListTar(const char* outFileName,
-                            bool ,
                             bool verbose)
 {
 #if defined(CMAKE_BUILD_WITH_CMAKE)
diff --git a/Source/cmSystemTools.h b/Source/cmSystemTools.h
index 47d2771b0..09ceea6e8 100644
--- a/Source/cmSystemTools.h
+++ b/Source/cmSystemTools.h
@@ -383,12 +383,19 @@ public:
   static void EnableVSConsoleOutput();
 
   /** Create tar */
+  enum cmTarCompression
+  {
+    TarCompressGZip,
+    TarCompressBZip2,
+    TarCompressXZ,
+    TarCompressNone
+  };
   static bool ListTar(const char* outFileName,
-                      bool gzip, bool verbose);
+                      bool verbose);
   static bool CreateTar(const char* outFileName,
-                        const std::vector<std::string>& files, bool gzip,
-                        bool bzip2, bool xz, bool verbose);
-  static bool ExtractTar(const char* inFileName, bool gzip,
+                        const std::vector<std::string>& files,
+                        cmTarCompression compressType, bool verbose);
+  static bool ExtractTar(const char* inFileName,
                          bool verbose);
   // This should be called first thing in main
   // it will keep child processes from inheriting the
diff --git a/Source/cmcmd.cxx b/Source/cmcmd.cxx
index 6b3efb565..91b9e94e0 100644
--- a/Source/cmcmd.cxx
+++ b/Source/cmcmd.cxx
@@ -733,21 +733,20 @@ int cmcmd::ExecuteCMakeCommand(std::vector<std::string>& args)
         {
         files.push_back(args[cc]);
         }
-      bool gzip = false;
-      bool bzip2 = false;
-      bool xz = false;
+      cmSystemTools::cmTarCompression compress =
+        cmSystemTools::TarCompressNone;
       bool verbose = false;
       if ( flags.find_first_of('j') != flags.npos )
         {
-        bzip2 = true;
+        compress = cmSystemTools::TarCompressBZip2;
         }
       if ( flags.find_first_of('J') != flags.npos )
         {
-        xz = true;
+        compress = cmSystemTools::TarCompressXZ;
         }
       if ( flags.find_first_of('z') != flags.npos )
         {
-        gzip = true;
+        compress = cmSystemTools::TarCompressGZip;
         }
       if ( flags.find_first_of('v') != flags.npos )
         {
@@ -756,7 +755,7 @@ int cmcmd::ExecuteCMakeCommand(std::vector<std::string>& args)
 
       if ( flags.find_first_of('t') != flags.npos )
         {
-        if ( !cmSystemTools::ListTar(outFile.c_str(), gzip, verbose) )
+        if ( !cmSystemTools::ListTar(outFile.c_str(), verbose) )
           {
           cmSystemTools::Error("Problem creating tar: ", outFile.c_str());
           return 1;
@@ -765,7 +764,7 @@ int cmcmd::ExecuteCMakeCommand(std::vector<std::string>& args)
       else if ( flags.find_first_of('c') != flags.npos )
         {
         if ( !cmSystemTools::CreateTar(
-               outFile.c_str(), files, gzip, bzip2, xz, verbose) )
+               outFile.c_str(), files, compress, verbose) )
           {
           cmSystemTools::Error("Problem creating tar: ", outFile.c_str());
           return 1;
@@ -774,7 +773,7 @@ int cmcmd::ExecuteCMakeCommand(std::vector<std::string>& args)
       else if ( flags.find_first_of('x') != flags.npos )
         {
         if ( !cmSystemTools::ExtractTar(
-            outFile.c_str(), gzip, verbose) )
+            outFile.c_str(), verbose) )
           {
           cmSystemTools::Error("Problem extracting tar: ", outFile.c_str());
           return 1;