diff --git a/.package-exclude b/.package-exclude
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c25db8681
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.package-exclude
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+.*
+coverage/*
+spec/*
+Rakefile
diff --git a/Rakefile b/Rakefile
index e5271d753..32efffa69 100644
--- a/Rakefile
+++ b/Rakefile
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ task :package, [:zipfile, :hosts] do |t, args|
     system("find #{dest} -type f -exec chmod a+r {} \\;")
     system("find #{dest} -type d -exec chmod a+rx {} \\;")
     system("chmod a+rx #{dest}/bin/*")
-    system("cd #{dest} && zip -r #{zipfile} .")
+    system("cd #{dest} && zip -r #{zipfile} -x@.package-exclude .")
   end
 end