diff --git a/contrib/nightly/create_tarball.sh b/contrib/nightly/create_tarball.sh
index 719a19a65c..3121e42329 100755
--- a/contrib/nightly/create_tarball.sh
+++ b/contrib/nightly/create_tarball.sh
@@ -22,6 +22,9 @@ debug=
 # do you want a success mail?
 want_success_mail=1
 
+# max length of logfile to send in an e-mail
+max_log_len=50
+
 # how many snapshots to keep in the destdir?
 max_snapshots=5
 
@@ -45,7 +48,13 @@ send_error_mail() {
     rm -f "$outfile"
     touch "$outfile"
     for file in `/bin/ls $logdir/* | sort`; do
-        cat "$file" >> "$outfile"
+        len="`wc -l $file | awk '{ print $1}'`"
+        if test "`expr $len \> $max_log_len`" = "1"; then
+            echo "[... previous lines snipped ...]" >> "$outfile"
+            tail -$max_log_len "$file" >> "$outfile"
+        else
+            cat "$file" >> "$outfile"
+        fi
     done
     Mail -s "=== CREATE ERROR ===" "$email" < "$outfile"
     rm -f "$outfile"