diff --git a/cmd/helm/lint.go b/cmd/helm/lint.go
index 7a52ea597..1c652e182 100644
--- a/cmd/helm/lint.go
+++ b/cmd/helm/lint.go
@@ -19,11 +19,14 @@ package main
 import (
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
+	"io/ioutil"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
+	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 
+	"k8s.io/helm/pkg/chartutil"
 	"k8s.io/helm/pkg/lint"
 )
 
@@ -55,6 +58,35 @@ func lintCmd(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
 		path = args[0]
 	}
 
+	if err := lintChart(path); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}
+
+func lintChart(path string) error {
+	if strings.HasSuffix(path, ".tgz") {
+		tempDir, err := ioutil.TempDir("", "helm-lint")
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		defer os.RemoveAll(tempDir)
+
+		file, err := os.Open(path)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		defer file.Close()
+
+		if err = chartutil.Expand(tempDir, file); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+
+		base := strings.Split(filepath.Base(path), "-")[0]
+		path = filepath.Join(tempDir, base)
+	}
+
 	// Guard: Error out of this is not a chart.
 	if _, err := os.Stat(filepath.Join(path, "Chart.yaml")); err != nil {
 		return errLintNoChart
@@ -69,5 +101,6 @@ func lintCmd(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
 	for _, i := range issues {
 		fmt.Printf("%s\n", i)
 	}
+
 	return nil
 }
diff --git a/cmd/helm/lint_test.go b/cmd/helm/lint_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b7e3db6c6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/helm/lint_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2016 The Kubernetes Authors All rights reserved.
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+package main
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+)
+
+var (
+	archivedChartPath = "testdata/testcharts/compressedchart-0.1.0.tgz"
+	chartDirPath      = "testdata/testcharts/decompressedchart/"
+)
+
+func TestLintChart(t *testing.T) {
+	if err := lintChart(chartDirPath); err != nil {
+		t.Errorf("%s", err)
+	}
+
+	if err := lintChart(archivedChartPath); err != nil {
+		t.Errorf("%s", err)
+	}
+
+}
diff --git a/cmd/helm/search_test.go b/cmd/helm/search_test.go
index d53dfa3fd..0869551aa 100644
--- a/cmd/helm/search_test.go
+++ b/cmd/helm/search_test.go
@@ -22,8 +22,8 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/helm/pkg/repo"
 )
 
-const testDir = "testdata/"
-const testFile = "testdata/local-index.yaml"
+const testDir = "testdata/testcache"
+const testFile = "testdata/testcache/local-index.yaml"
 
 type searchTestCase struct {
 	in          string
diff --git a/cmd/helm/testdata/foobar-index.yaml b/cmd/helm/testdata/testcache/foobar-index.yaml
similarity index 100%
rename from cmd/helm/testdata/foobar-index.yaml
rename to cmd/helm/testdata/testcache/foobar-index.yaml
diff --git a/cmd/helm/testdata/local-index.yaml b/cmd/helm/testdata/testcache/local-index.yaml
similarity index 100%
rename from cmd/helm/testdata/local-index.yaml
rename to cmd/helm/testdata/testcache/local-index.yaml
diff --git a/cmd/helm/testdata/testcharts/compressedchart-0.1.0.tgz b/cmd/helm/testdata/testcharts/compressedchart-0.1.0.tgz
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..575b27128
Binary files /dev/null and b/cmd/helm/testdata/testcharts/compressedchart-0.1.0.tgz differ
diff --git a/cmd/helm/testdata/testcharts/decompressedchart/.helmignore b/cmd/helm/testdata/testcharts/decompressedchart/.helmignore
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..435b756d8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/helm/testdata/testcharts/decompressedchart/.helmignore
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+# Patterns to ignore when building packages.
+# This supports shell glob matching, relative path matching, and
+# negation (prefixed with !). Only one pattern per line.
+.DS_Store
+.git
diff --git a/cmd/helm/testdata/testcharts/decompressedchart/Chart.yaml b/cmd/helm/testdata/testcharts/decompressedchart/Chart.yaml
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..3e65afdfa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/helm/testdata/testcharts/decompressedchart/Chart.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+description: A Helm chart for Kubernetes
+name: decompressedchart
+version: 0.1.0
diff --git a/cmd/helm/testdata/testcharts/decompressedchart/values.yaml b/cmd/helm/testdata/testcharts/decompressedchart/values.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a940d1fd9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/helm/testdata/testcharts/decompressedchart/values.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+# Default values for decompressedchart.
+# This is a YAML-formatted file.
+# Declare name/value pairs to be passed into your templates.
+ name: my-decompressed-chart
diff --git a/pkg/lint/lint.go b/pkg/lint/lint.go
index dbe980606..6c47413e6 100644
--- a/pkg/lint/lint.go
+++ b/pkg/lint/lint.go
@@ -17,17 +17,17 @@ limitations under the License.
 package lint
 
 import (
+	"path/filepath"
+
 	"k8s.io/helm/pkg/lint/rules"
 	"k8s.io/helm/pkg/lint/support"
-	"os"
-	"path/filepath"
 )
 
 // All runs all of the available linters on the given base directory.
 func All(basedir string) []support.Message {
+
 	// Using abs path to get directory context
-	current, _ := os.Getwd()
-	chartDir := filepath.Join(current, basedir)
+	chartDir, _ := filepath.Abs(basedir)
 
 	linter := support.Linter{ChartDir: chartDir}
 	rules.Chartfile(&linter)