How to create a tarball for Python projects: 

GZIP=--best tar -cz --owner root --group root --mode a+rX

For example: 

GZIP=--best tar -cvz --owner root --group root --mode a+rX -f lunch-0.3.1.tar.gz lunch-0.3.1/

A script can be made to make this easier: 

PKGNAME=python-txosc
PKGVERSION=0.1.4

PKGDIRNAME=${PKGNAME}-${PKGVERSION}
hg ar ../${PKGDIRNAME}
cd ..
find ${PKGDIRNAME} -name .hg | xargs rm -rf
GZIP=--best tar -cvz --owner root --group root --mode a+rX -f ${PKGDIRNAME}.tar.gz ${PKGDIRNAME}/
cp ${PKGDIRNAME}.tar.gz ${PKGNAME}_$PKGVERSION}.orig.tar.gz