Archive::Any::Create could make things a lot easier for you. It'll create an archive either in tar.gz or zip format. I'd go with the tar.gz. Here's an example:

#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;
use warnings;
use Archive::Any::Create;

my $archive = Archive::Any::Create->new;
$archive->container('myStuff');#top-level dir with your files
$archive->add_file('stuff.pl', 'perl script');
$archive->add_file('morestuff.pl', 'perl script');
$archive->write_file('myStuff.tar.gz');

#or
#$archive->write_file('myStuff.zip');
[download]

It can knock off a 6 GB tarball like it was 6 K.