diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index d210214..108bfe7 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -356,6 +356,7 @@ endif # HAVE_GENHTML
 
 dist-hook: gen-ChangeLog
 	echo $(VERSION) > $(distdir)/.tarball-version
+	git ls-tree -r --name-only HEAD > $(distdir)/.tarball-manifest
 
 .PHONY: gen-ChangeLog
 gen-ChangeLog:
diff --git a/guix.scm b/guix.scm
index 10fe856..59484e5 100644
--- a/guix.scm
+++ b/guix.scm
@@ -25,15 +25,27 @@
       version)))
 
 (define (make-select)
-  (let* ((directory (repository-discover *srcdir*))
-         (repository (repository-open directory))
-         (oid (reference-target (repository-head repository)))
-         (commit (commit-lookup repository oid))
-         (tree (commit-tree commit))
-         (paths (tree-list tree)))
-    (lambda (file stat)
-      (let ((relative (substring file (1+ (string-length *srcdir*)))))
-        (member relative paths)))))
+  (define paths
+    (or (false-if-exception
+         (let* ((directory (repository-discover *srcdir*))
+                (repository (repository-open directory))
+                (oid (reference-target (repository-head repository)))
+                (commit (commit-lookup repository oid))
+                (tree (commit-tree commit)))
+           (tree-list tree)))
+        (false-if-exception
+         (with-directory-excursion *srcdir*
+           (call-with-input-file ".tarball-manifest"
+             (lambda (port)
+               (let loop ((line (get-line port)) (acc '()))
+                 (if (eof-object? line)
+                     acc
+                     (loop (get-line port) (cons line acc))))))))
+        (error "Cannot make file selector")))
+  (lambda (file stat)
+    (let ((relative (substring file (1+ (string-length *srcdir*)))))
+      (or (eq? (stat:type stat) 'directory)
+          (member relative paths)))))
 
 (package
   (name "gash")