diff --git a/kiss b/kiss
index 3fdb326..8c2eeed 100755
--- a/kiss
+++ b/kiss
@@ -751,12 +751,12 @@ pkg_tar() (
     # NOTE: repo_ comes from caller.
     log "$1" "Creating tarball"
 
+    _tar_file=$bin_dir/$1@$repo_ver-$repo_rel.tar.$KISS_COMPRESS
+
     # Use 'cd' to avoid needing tar's '-C' flag which may not be portable
     # across implementations.
     cd "$pkg_dir/$1"
 
-    _tar_file=$bin_dir/$1@$repo_ver-$repo_rel.tar.$KISS_COMPRESS
-
     # Create a tarball from the contents of the built package.
     tar cf - . | case $KISS_COMPRESS in
         bz2)  bzip2 -z ;;