This is pretty awesome for you OS X folks:

http://ranchero.com/bigcat/

I was able to use this Finder plugin thingy to write a bash script that allows the tarring of many directories from finder with a few clicks.

here is the script:

#!/bin/sh

 # Tar directories.

 while [ "$*" != "" ]
do
    if [ -d "$1" ]
    then
        echo "tar cvfz $1.tgz -C `dirname $1` `basename $1`"
        tar cvfz $1.tgz -C `dirname $1` `basename $1`
    fi
    shift
done

chmod u+x and stick it in ~/Library/Application\ Support/Big\ Cat\ Scripts/Files. Now select a bunch of directories and ctrl-click [right click] and find the scripts context menu and select whatever you named the above script.

It will echo what it's doing to the console log. If you don't want this behavior remove the echo line.

Saves me a bunch of time...

Dave