diff --git a/sshrc b/sshrc
index 3314ddf..a17b968 100755
--- a/sshrc
+++ b/sshrc
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ function _sshrc() {
         if [ -d $SSHHOME/.sshrc.d ]; then
             files="$files .sshrc.d"
         fi
-        SIZE=$(tar cfz - -h -C $SSHHOME $files | wc -c)
+        SIZE=$( { cd $SSHHOME; tar cf - -h $files; } | gzip | wc -c )
         if [ $SIZE -gt 65536 ]; then
             echo >&2 $'.sshrc.d and .sshrc files must be less than 64kb\ncurrent size: '$SIZE' bytes'
             exit 1
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ EOF
                 )"' | tr -s ' ' $'\n' | openssl enc -base64 -d > \$SSHHOME/bashsshrc
             chmod +x \$SSHHOME/bashsshrc
 
-            echo $'"$(tar czf - -h -C $SSHHOME $files | openssl enc -base64)"' | tr -s ' ' $'\n' | openssl enc -base64 -d | tar mxzf - -C \$SSHHOME
+            echo $'"$( { cd $SSHHOME; tar cf - -h $files; } | gzip | openssl enc -base64)"' | tr -s ' ' $'\n' | openssl enc -base64 -d | gunzip | { cd \$SSHHOME; tar mxf -; }
             export SSHHOME=\$SSHHOME
             echo \"$CMDARG\" >> \$SSHHOME/sshrc.bashrc
             bash --rcfile \$SSHHOME/sshrc.bashrc