diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index dbf071b33a3991b26d788c7618304adec6852072..69ab7e6f86e17bdd3b8f4ac0a1857a731dd76e12 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
 .DS_Store
 .nextflow*
 work
+bin
+data
+results
diff --git a/src/modules/split.nf b/src/modules/split.nf
index e7f7e47c08ea9495f9b63eac8e223605b3a7e479..a6cf5fe04c30b347a2f7a45b7c89d81a8c40825e 100644
--- a/src/modules/split.nf
+++ b/src/modules/split.nf
@@ -14,8 +14,12 @@ process SPLIT {
     script:
     def args = task.ext.args ?: ''
     """
-    zcat ${fastq} | split -d -l4000000 --filter='gzip > \$FILE.fastq.gz' ${fastq.simpleName}_
+    zcat ${fastq} | split -l 4000000 - ${fastq.simpleName}_
 
+    ls -l ${fastq.simpleName}_* | \\
+        awk '{system("gzip -c "\$9" > "\$9".fastq.gz && rm "\$9)}'
+
+    cat <<-END_VERSIONS > versions.yml
     "${task.process}":
         split: v1.35.0
     END_VERSIONS