diff --git a/tools/testrel b/tools/testrel
index 2746afe..3ead49f 100755
--- a/tools/testrel
+++ b/tools/testrel
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@
 # release test
 
 ipdir=$PWD/..
-ipbackupdir=~/ipython/backup
 
 cd $ipdir
 
@@ -11,11 +10,6 @@ cd $ipdir
 rm -rf $ipdir/build/*
 rm -rf $ipdir/dist/*
 
-# Perform local backup
-cd $ipdir/tools
-./make_tarball.py
-mv ipython-*.tgz $ipbackupdir
-
 # build source distros
 cd $ipdir
 ./setup.py sdist --formats=gztar