diff --git a/make_dist b/make_dist
index 2014cfae..f503e659 100755
--- a/make_dist
+++ b/make_dist
@@ -235,11 +235,12 @@ try:
         tag += "--" + comment
         # Check and/or fix the tag if it's not legal
         proc = subprocess.Popen(['git', 'check-ref-format', '--normalize',
-                                 '--allow-onelevel', '"'+tag+'"'],
+                                 '--allow-onelevel', tag],
                                 stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
         stdoutdata, stderrdata = proc.communicate()
         if proc.returncode == 0:    # success
             tag = stdoutdata.strip()
+            print >> sys.stderr, "tag is -->", tag, "<--"
         else:
             print >> sys.stderr, "Failed to convert '%s' to a legal tag." % tag
             print >> sys.stderr, "Using '%s' instead." % oldtag
@@ -247,11 +248,11 @@ try:
     
     if not dryrun:
         osCall('git', 'commit', '-m', commit_msg)
-        osCall('git', 'tag')
+        osCall('git', 'tag', tag)
         osCall('git', 'push', 'origin', tag)
     else:
         print >> sys.stderr, "Dry run! Not running:"
-        print >> sys.stderr, '*** git commit -m "%s"' % commit_msg
+        print >> sys.stderr, '*** git commit -m %s' % commit_msg
         print >> sys.stderr, '*** git tag', tag
         print >> sys.stderr, '*** git push origin %s' % tag