--- cmake-2.6.3/Source/CPack/cmCPackDebGenerator.cxx.orig	2009-03-25 11:47:31.000000000 +0100
+++ cmake-2.6.3/Source/CPack/cmCPackDebGenerator.cxx	2009-03-25 11:55:38.000000000 +0100
@@ -48,6 +48,16 @@
 int cmCPackDebGenerator::InitializeInternal()
 {
   this->SetOptionIfNotSet("CPACK_PACKAGING_INSTALL_PREFIX", "/usr");
+  std::vector<std::string> path;
+  std::string tarCmd = cmSystemTools::FindProgram("tar", path, false);
+  if( tarCmd.empty() )
+    {
+    const char* cmakeExecutable = this->GetOption("CMAKE_COMMAND");
+    tarCmd = "\"";
+    tarCmd += cmakeExecutable;
+    tarCmd += "\" -E tar";
+    }
+  this->SetOptionIfNotSet("CPACK_TAR_COMMAND", tarCmd.c_str());
 
   return this->Superclass::InitializeInternal();
 }
@@ -59,6 +69,7 @@
 {
   this->ReadListFile("CPackDeb.cmake");
   const char* cmakeExecutable = this->GetOption("CMAKE_COMMAND");
+  const char* tarCommand = this->GetOption("CPACK_TAR_COMMAND");
 
   // debian-binary file
   std::string dbfilename;
@@ -133,9 +144,8 @@
     }
 
   std::string cmd;
-  cmd = "\"";
-  cmd += cmakeExecutable;
-  cmd += "\" -E tar cfz data.tar.gz ";
+  cmd = tarCommand;
+  cmd += + " cfz data.tar.gz ";
 
   // now add all directories which have to be compressed
   // collect all top level install dirs for that
@@ -208,9 +218,8 @@
     }
 
 
-  cmd = "\"";
-  cmd += cmakeExecutable;
-  cmd += "\" -E tar cfz control.tar.gz ./control ./md5sums";
+  cmd = tarCommand;
+  cmd += " cfz control.tar.gz ./control ./md5sums";
   const char* controlExtra = 
     this->GetOption("CPACK_DEBIAN_PACKAGE_CONTROL_EXTRA");
   if( controlExtra )