diff --git a/make-dist b/make-dist
index 06cb8320af6..5aa1c17ca5e 100755
--- a/make-dist
+++ b/make-dist
@@ -74,6 +74,28 @@ while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
     "--compress")
       default_gzip="compress"
     ;;
+
+    "--snapshot")
+      clean_up=yes
+      make_tar=yes
+      update=no
+      check=no
+     ;;
+
+    "--help")
+      echo "Usage: ${progname} [options]"
+      echo ""
+      echo "  --clean-up	delete staging directories when done"
+      echo "  --compress	use compress instead of gzip"
+      echo "  --newer=TIME	don't include files older than TIME"
+      echo "  --no-check	don't check for bad file names etc."
+      echo "  --no-update	don't recompile or do analogous things"
+      echo "  --snapshot	same as --clean-up --no-update --tar --no-check"
+      echo "  --tar		make a tar file"
+      echo ""
+      exit 0
+    ;;
+
     * )
       echo "${progname}: Unrecognized argument: $1" >&2
       exit 1