diff --git a/cmd/dist/dist.go b/cmd/dist/dist.go
index 1b7a73c16d6b1..31c3fc872ac21 100644
--- a/cmd/dist/dist.go
+++ b/cmd/dist/dist.go
@@ -19,10 +19,10 @@ import (
 
 var synologyPackageCenter bool
 
-func getTargets(signers unixpkgs.Signers) ([]dist.Target, error) {
+func getTargets() ([]dist.Target, error) {
 	var ret []dist.Target
 
-	ret = append(ret, unixpkgs.Targets(signers)...)
+	ret = append(ret, unixpkgs.Targets(unixpkgs.Signers{})...)
 	// Synology packages can be built either for sideloading, or for
 	// distribution by Synology in their package center. When
 	// distributed through the package center, apps can request
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ func getTargets(signers unixpkgs.Signers) ([]dist.Target, error) {
 	// Since only we can provide packages to Synology for
 	// distribution, we default to building the "sideload" variant of
 	// packages that we distribute on pkgs.tailscale.com.
-	ret = append(ret, synology.Targets(synologyPackageCenter)...)
+	ret = append(ret, synology.Targets(synologyPackageCenter, nil)...)
 	return ret, nil
 }
 
diff --git a/release/dist/cli/cli.go b/release/dist/cli/cli.go
index 42b1b6314372f..3ae613a34ce80 100644
--- a/release/dist/cli/cli.go
+++ b/release/dist/cli/cli.go
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@ import (
 	"github.com/peterbourgon/ff/v3/ffcli"
 	"tailscale.com/clientupdate/distsign"
 	"tailscale.com/release/dist"
-	"tailscale.com/release/dist/unixpkgs"
 )
 
 // CLI returns a CLI root command to build release packages.
@@ -28,7 +27,7 @@ import (
 // getTargets is a function that gets run in the Exec function of commands that
 // need to know the target list. Its execution is deferred in this way to allow
 // customization of command FlagSets with flags that influence the target list.
-func CLI(getTargets func(unixpkgs.Signers) ([]dist.Target, error)) *ffcli.Command {
+func CLI(getTargets func() ([]dist.Target, error)) *ffcli.Command {
 	return &ffcli.Command{
 		Name:       "dist",
 		ShortUsage: "dist [flags] <command> [command flags]",
@@ -38,7 +37,7 @@ func CLI(getTargets func(unixpkgs.Signers) ([]dist.Target, error)) *ffcli.Comman
 			{
 				Name: "list",
 				Exec: func(ctx context.Context, args []string) error {
-					targets, err := getTargets(unixpkgs.Signers{})
+					targets, err := getTargets()
 					if err != nil {
 						return err
 					}
@@ -54,11 +53,7 @@ func CLI(getTargets func(unixpkgs.Signers) ([]dist.Target, error)) *ffcli.Comman
 			{
 				Name: "build",
 				Exec: func(ctx context.Context, args []string) error {
-					tgzSigner, err := parseSigningKey(buildArgs.tgzSigningKey)
-					if err != nil {
-						return err
-					}
-					targets, err := getTargets(unixpkgs.Signers{Tarball: tgzSigner})
+					targets, err := getTargets()
 					if err != nil {
 						return err
 					}
@@ -70,7 +65,6 @@ func CLI(getTargets func(unixpkgs.Signers) ([]dist.Target, error)) *ffcli.Comman
 					fs := flag.NewFlagSet("build", flag.ExitOnError)
 					fs.StringVar(&buildArgs.manifest, "manifest", "", "manifest file to write")
 					fs.BoolVar(&buildArgs.verbose, "verbose", false, "verbose logging")
-					fs.StringVar(&buildArgs.tgzSigningKey, "tgz-signing-key", "", "path to private signing key for release tarballs")
 					fs.StringVar(&buildArgs.webClientRoot, "web-client-root", "", "path to root of web client source to build")
 					return fs
 				})(),
@@ -147,7 +141,6 @@ func runList(ctx context.Context, filters []string, targets []dist.Target) error
 var buildArgs struct {
 	manifest      string
 	verbose       bool
-	tgzSigningKey string
 	webClientRoot string
 }
 
diff --git a/release/dist/dist.go b/release/dist/dist.go
index 41ffe05f7d1f1..95225e470e291 100644
--- a/release/dist/dist.go
+++ b/release/dist/dist.go
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import (
 	"bytes"
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
+	"io"
 	"log"
 	"os"
 	"os/exec"
@@ -29,6 +30,27 @@ type Target interface {
 	Build(build *Build) ([]string, error)
 }
 
+// Signer is pluggable signer for a Target.
+type Signer func(io.Reader) ([]byte, error)
+
+// SignFile signs the file at filePath with s and writes the signature to
+// sigPath.
+func (s Signer) SignFile(filePath, sigPath string) error {
+	f, err := os.Open(filePath)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	defer f.Close()
+	sig, err := s(f)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if err := f.Close(); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	return os.WriteFile(sigPath, sig, 0644)
+}
+
 // A Build is a build context for Targets.
 type Build struct {
 	// Repo is a path to the root Go module for the build.
diff --git a/release/dist/synology/pkgs.go b/release/dist/synology/pkgs.go
index 67deab4d124e9..b1c5c388627d0 100644
--- a/release/dist/synology/pkgs.go
+++ b/release/dist/synology/pkgs.go
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ type target struct {
 	dsmMajorVersion int
 	goenv           map[string]string
 	packageCenter   bool
+	signer          dist.Signer
 }
 
 func (t *target) String() string {
@@ -37,15 +38,10 @@ func (t *target) Build(b *dist.Build) ([]string, error) {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
-	out, err := t.buildSPK(b, inner)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
-	}
-
-	return []string{out}, nil
+	return t.buildSPK(b, inner)
 }
 
-func (t *target) buildSPK(b *dist.Build, inner *innerPkg) (string, error) {
+func (t *target) buildSPK(b *dist.Build, inner *innerPkg) ([]string, error) {
 	filename := fmt.Sprintf("tailscale-%s-%s-%d-dsm%d.spk", t.filenameArch, b.Version.Short, b.Version.Synology[t.dsmMajorVersion], t.dsmMajorVersion)
 	out := filepath.Join(b.Out, filename)
 	log.Printf("Building %s", filename)
@@ -57,7 +53,7 @@ func (t *target) buildSPK(b *dist.Build, inner *innerPkg) (string, error) {
 
 	f, err := os.Create(out)
 	if err != nil {
-		return "", err
+		return nil, err
 	}
 	defer f.Close()
 	tw := tar.NewWriter(f)
@@ -78,17 +74,27 @@ func (t *target) buildSPK(b *dist.Build, inner *innerPkg) (string, error) {
 		static("scripts/preupgrade", "scripts/preupgrade", 0644),
 	)
 	if err != nil {
-		return "", err
+		return nil, err
 	}
 
 	if err := tw.Close(); err != nil {
-		return "", err
+		return nil, err
 	}
 	if err := f.Close(); err != nil {
-		return "", err
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	files := []string{out}
+
+	if t.signer != nil {
+		outSig := out + ".sig"
+		if err := t.signer.SignFile(out, outSig); err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+		files = append(files, outSig)
 	}
 
-	return out, nil
+	return files, nil
 }
 
 func (t *target) mkInfo(b *dist.Build, uncompressedSz int64) []byte {
diff --git a/release/dist/synology/targets.go b/release/dist/synology/targets.go
index c05f92ecdde26..cea372e1a4d17 100644
--- a/release/dist/synology/targets.go
+++ b/release/dist/synology/targets.go
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ var v7Models = []string{
 	"monaco",
 }
 
-func Targets(forPackageCenter bool) []dist.Target {
+func Targets(forPackageCenter bool, signer dist.Signer) []dist.Target {
 	var ret []dist.Target
 	for _, dsmVersion := range []int{6, 7} {
 		ret = append(ret,
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ func Targets(forPackageCenter bool) []dist.Target {
 					"GOARCH": "amd64",
 				},
 				packageCenter: forPackageCenter,
+				signer:        signer,
 			},
 			&target{
 				filenameArch:    "i686",
@@ -47,6 +48,7 @@ func Targets(forPackageCenter bool) []dist.Target {
 					"GOARCH": "386",
 				},
 				packageCenter: forPackageCenter,
+				signer:        signer,
 			},
 			&target{
 				filenameArch:    "armv8",
@@ -56,6 +58,7 @@ func Targets(forPackageCenter bool) []dist.Target {
 					"GOARCH": "arm64",
 				},
 				packageCenter: forPackageCenter,
+				signer:        signer,
 			})
 
 		// On older ARMv5 and ARMv7 platforms, synology used a whole
@@ -71,6 +74,7 @@ func Targets(forPackageCenter bool) []dist.Target {
 					"GOARM":  "5",
 				},
 				packageCenter: forPackageCenter,
+				signer:        signer,
 			})
 		}
 		for _, v7Arch := range v7Models {
@@ -83,6 +87,7 @@ func Targets(forPackageCenter bool) []dist.Target {
 					"GOARM":  "7",
 				},
 				packageCenter: forPackageCenter,
+				signer:        signer,
 			})
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/release/dist/unixpkgs/pkgs.go b/release/dist/unixpkgs/pkgs.go
index 9047cd0968036..2efcf4a6fefa1 100644
--- a/release/dist/unixpkgs/pkgs.go
+++ b/release/dist/unixpkgs/pkgs.go
@@ -7,9 +7,6 @@ package unixpkgs
 import (
 	"archive/tar"
 	"compress/gzip"
-	"crypto"
-	"crypto/rand"
-	"crypto/sha512"
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
@@ -26,7 +23,7 @@ import (
 type tgzTarget struct {
 	filenameArch string // arch to use in filename instead of deriving from goEnv["GOARCH"]
 	goEnv        map[string]string
-	signer       crypto.Signer
+	signer       dist.Signer
 }
 
 func (t *tgzTarget) arch() string {
@@ -73,11 +70,7 @@ func (t *tgzTarget) Build(b *dist.Build) ([]string, error) {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 	defer f.Close()
-	// Hash the final output we're writing to the file, after tar and gzip
-	// writers did their thing.
-	h := sha512.New()
-	hw := io.MultiWriter(f, h)
-	gw := gzip.NewWriter(hw)
+	gw := gzip.NewWriter(f)
 	defer gw.Close()
 	tw := tar.NewWriter(gw)
 	defer tw.Close()
@@ -161,15 +154,11 @@ func (t *tgzTarget) Build(b *dist.Build) ([]string, error) {
 	files := []string{filename}
 
 	if t.signer != nil {
-		sig, err := t.signer.Sign(rand.Reader, h.Sum(nil), crypto.SHA512)
-		if err != nil {
-			return nil, err
-		}
-		sigFilename := out + ".sig"
-		if err := os.WriteFile(sigFilename, sig, 0644); err != nil {
+		outSig := out + ".sig"
+		if err := t.signer.SignFile(out, outSig); err != nil {
 			return nil, err
 		}
-		files = append(files, filename+".sig")
+		files = append(files, filepath.Base(outSig))
 	}
 
 	return files, nil
@@ -291,7 +280,7 @@ func (t *debTarget) Build(b *dist.Build) ([]string, error) {
 
 type rpmTarget struct {
 	goEnv  map[string]string
-	signFn func(io.Reader) ([]byte, error)
+	signer dist.Signer
 }
 
 func (t *rpmTarget) os() string {
@@ -387,7 +376,7 @@ func (t *rpmTarget) Build(b *dist.Build) ([]string, error) {
 				Group: "Network",
 				Signature: nfpm.RPMSignature{
 					PackageSignature: nfpm.PackageSignature{
-						SignFn: t.signFn,
+						SignFn: t.signer,
 					},
 				},
 			},
diff --git a/release/dist/unixpkgs/targets.go b/release/dist/unixpkgs/targets.go
index 9a90bab4d9a26..42bab6d3b2685 100644
--- a/release/dist/unixpkgs/targets.go
+++ b/release/dist/unixpkgs/targets.go
@@ -4,9 +4,7 @@
 package unixpkgs
 
 import (
-	"crypto"
 	"fmt"
-	"io"
 	"sort"
 	"strings"
 
@@ -17,8 +15,8 @@ import (
 )
 
 type Signers struct {
-	Tarball crypto.Signer
-	RPM     func(io.Reader) ([]byte, error)
+	Tarball dist.Signer
+	RPM     dist.Signer
 }
 
 func Targets(signers Signers) []dist.Target {
@@ -49,7 +47,7 @@ func Targets(signers Signers) []dist.Target {
 				"GOOS":   goos,
 				"GOARCH": goarch,
 			},
-			signFn: signers.RPM,
+			signer: signers.RPM,
 		})
 	}