diff --git a/MANIFEST.in b/MANIFEST.in
index 9cf9b7440..3562a70ec 100644
--- a/MANIFEST.in
+++ b/MANIFEST.in
@@ -14,4 +14,7 @@ recursive-include python_examples *.txt *.py
 recursive-include tools/python **
 
 prune tools/python/build*
+prune dlib/cmake_utils/*/build*
 prune dlib/test
+
+global-exclude *.pyc