diff --git a/src/pkg/archive/tar/reader.go b/src/pkg/archive/tar/reader.go
index 654b5b03d9..74057401f8 100644
--- a/src/pkg/archive/tar/reader.go
+++ b/src/pkg/archive/tar/reader.go
@@ -204,7 +204,7 @@ func (tr *Reader) readHeader() *Header {
 // Read reads from the current entry in the tar archive.
 // It returns 0, nil when it reaches the end of that entry,
 // until Next is called to advance to the next entry.
-func (tr *Reader) Read(b []uint8) (n int, err os.Error) {
+func (tr *Reader) Read(b []byte) (n int, err os.Error) {
 	if int64(len(b)) > tr.nb {
 		b = b[0:tr.nb]
 	}
diff --git a/src/pkg/archive/tar/writer.go b/src/pkg/archive/tar/writer.go
index 2c207d618f..6bb4acdf40 100644
--- a/src/pkg/archive/tar/writer.go
+++ b/src/pkg/archive/tar/writer.go
@@ -163,7 +163,7 @@ func (tw *Writer) WriteHeader(hdr *Header) os.Error {
 // Write writes to the current entry in the tar archive.
 // Write returns the error ErrWriteTooLong if more than
 // hdr.Size bytes are written after WriteHeader.
-func (tw *Writer) Write(b []uint8) (n int, err os.Error) {
+func (tw *Writer) Write(b []byte) (n int, err os.Error) {
 	overwrite := false;
 	if int64(len(b)) > tw.nb {
 		b = b[0:tw.nb];