diff --git a/etc/makepkg.conf.in b/etc/makepkg.conf.in
index c3b7cc0..58b5d08 100644
--- a/etc/makepkg.conf.in
+++ b/etc/makepkg.conf.in
@@ -69,6 +69,7 @@ BUILDENV=(fakeroot !distcc color !ccache check !sign)
 #-- emptydirs: Leave empty directories in packages
 #-- zipman:    Compress manual (man and info) pages in MAN_DIRS with gzip
 #-- purge:     Remove files specified by PURGE_TARGETS
+#-- upx:       Compress executables using UPX
 #
 OPTIONS=(strip docs libtool emptydirs zipman purge)
 
@@ -86,7 +87,8 @@ MAN_DIRS=({usr{,/local}{,/share},opt/*}/{man,info})
 DOC_DIRS=(usr/{,local/}{,share/}{doc,gtk-doc} opt/*/{doc,gtk-doc})
 #-- Files to be removed from all packages (if purge is specified)
 PURGE_TARGETS=(usr/{,share}/info/dir .packlist *.pod)
-
+#-- Flags to pass to upx during file compression
+UPX="--lzma"
 #########################################################################
 # PACKAGE OUTPUT
 #########################################################################
diff --git a/scripts/makepkg.sh.in b/scripts/makepkg.sh.in
index 93cf566..7b961c7 100644
--- a/scripts/makepkg.sh.in
+++ b/scripts/makepkg.sh.in
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ startdir="$PWD"
 srcdir="$startdir/src"
 pkgdir="$startdir/pkg"
 
-packaging_options=('strip' 'docs' 'libtool' 'emptydirs' 'zipman' 'purge')
+packaging_options=('strip' 'docs' 'libtool' 'emptydirs' 'zipman' 'purge' 'upx')
 other_options=('ccache' 'distcc' 'buildflags' 'makeflags')
 splitpkg_overrides=('pkgver' 'pkgrel' 'pkgdesc' 'arch' 'license' 'groups' \
                     'depends' 'optdepends' 'provides' 'conflicts' 'replaces' \
@@ -931,6 +931,20 @@ tidy_install() {
 		msg2 "$(gettext "Removing empty directories...")"
 		find . -depth -type d -empty -delete
 	fi
+
+	if [ "$(check_option upx)" = "y" -a -x /usr/bin/upx ]; then
+                msg2 "$(gettext "UPXing :)")"
+                export UPX
+                local binary
+                find . -type f 2>/dev/null | while read binary ; do
+                        case "$(file -biz "$binary")" in
+                                *compressed-encoding*)      # Skip compressed binaries
+                                        ;;
+                                *application/x-executable*) # Binaries
+                                        /usr/bin/upx "$binary" >/dev/null 2>&1 || echo "Could not compress $binary";;
+                        esac
+                done
+        fi
 }
 
 write_pkginfo() {