diff --git a/tools/pylib/_boutpp_build/backend.py b/tools/pylib/_boutpp_build/backend.py
index 0c1e611a2f..f105fadceb 100755
--- a/tools/pylib/_boutpp_build/backend.py
+++ b/tools/pylib/_boutpp_build/backend.py
@@ -216,9 +216,16 @@ def build_sdist(sdist_directory, config_settings=None):
             f"""Metadata-Version: 2.1
 Name: {pkgname}
 Version: {getversion()}
-License-File: COPYING
 """
         )
+        with open("LICENSE") as src:
+            pre = "License: "
+            for l in src:
+                f.write(f"{pre}{l}")
+                pre = "         "
+        f.write("Description-Content-Type: text/markdown\n\n")
+        with open("README.md") as src:
+            f.write(src.read())
     run(
         f"tar --append -f {sdist_directory}/{fname} _version.txt --xform='s\\_version.txt\\{prefix}/_version.txt\\'"
     )