diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index ac27f32..2e32eb3 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,6 +1,14 @@
 #
 PROG= nsh
 
+.PHONY: release dist
+
+.include "nsh-version.mk"
+
+.if ${NSH_RELEASE} != Yes
+DEBUG?=-O0 -g
+.endif
+
 .if make(install)
 DESTDIR?=/usr/local
 BINDIR?=/bin
@@ -11,6 +19,7 @@ MANDIR?=/man/man
 #CFLAGS=-O -DDHCPLEASES=\"/flash/dhcpd.leases\" -Wmissing-prototypes -Wformat -Wall -Wpointer-arith -Wbad-function-cast #-W
 CFLAGS?=-O
 CFLAGS+=-Wmissing-prototypes -Wformat -Wall -Wbad-function-cast -I/usr/local/include #-W -Wpointer-arith
+CPPFLAGS+=-DNSH_VERSION=${NSH_VERSION}
 
 SRCS=arp.c compile.c main.c genget.c commands.c stats.c kroute.c
 SRCS+=ctl.c show.c if.c version.c route.c conf.c complete.c ieee80211.c
@@ -25,4 +34,22 @@ MAN=nsh.8
 compile.c: compile.sh
 	sh ${.CURDIR}/compile.sh
 
+release: clean
+	sed -i -e "s/_RELEASE=No/_RELEASE=Yes/" ${.CURDIR}/nsh-version.mk
+	${MAKE} -C ${.CURDIR} dist
+	sed -i -e "s/_RELEASE=Yes/_RELEASE=No/" ${.CURDIR}/nsh-version.mk
+
+dist: clean
+	mkdir /tmp/nsh-${NSH_VERSION}
+	(cd ${.CURDIR} && pax -rw * /tmp/nsh-${NSH_VERSION})
+	find /tmp/nsh-${NSH_VERSION} -name obj -type d -delete
+	rm /tmp/nsh-${NSH_VERSION}/nsh-dist.txt
+	tar -C /tmp -zcf ${.CURDIR}/nsh-${NSH_VERSION}.tar.gz nsh-${NSH_VERSION}
+	rm -rf /tmp/nsh-${NSH_VERSION}
+	tar -ztf ${.CURDIR}/nsh-${NSH_VERSION}.tar.gz | \
+		sed -e 's/^nsh-${NSH_VERSION}//' | \
+		sort > ${.CURDIR}/nsh-dist.txt.new
+	diff -u ${.CURDIR}/nsh-dist.txt ${.CURDIR}/nsh-dist.txt.new
+	rm ${.CURDIR}/nsh-dist.txt.new
+
 .include <bsd.prog.mk>
diff --git a/externs.h b/externs.h
index cc6533d..75755d4 100644
--- a/externs.h
+++ b/externs.h
@@ -2,6 +2,15 @@
  * nsh externs, prototypes and macros
  */
 
+#ifndef NSH_VERSION
+#error "NSH_VERSION is undefined"
+#endif
+
+#define NSH_STRINGIFY_VERSION(x) #x
+#define NSH_STRINGVAL_VERSION(x) NSH_STRINGIFY_VERSION(x)
+
+#define NSH_VERSION_STR NSH_STRINGVAL_VERSION(NSH_VERSION)
+
 #define NO_ARG(x)	(strcasecmp(x, "no") == 0) /* absolute "no" */
 
 #define nitems(_a)	(sizeof((_a)) / sizeof((_a)[0])) /* sys/param.h */
diff --git a/main.c b/main.c
index afe1459..5b1c31e 100644
--- a/main.c
+++ b/main.c
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ void usage(void);
 
 jmp_buf toplevel;
 
-char *vers = "1.1";
+char *vers = NSH_VERSION_STR;
 int bridge = 0;		/* bridge mode for interface() */
 int verbose = 0;	/* verbose mode */
 int priv = 0, cli_rtable = 0;
diff --git a/nsh-dist.txt b/nsh-dist.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c6ecde6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nsh-dist.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+
+/COPYRIGHT
+/MANUAL
+/Makefile
+/README
+/TODO
+/arp.c
+/bridge.c
+/bridge.h
+/carp.c
+/commands.c
+/commands.h
+/compile.sh
+/complete.c
+/conf.c
+/ctl.c
+/ctl.h
+/editing.h
+/externs.h
+/genget.c
+/ieee80211.c
+/if.c
+/ip.h
+/kroute.c
+/main.c
+/media.c
+/more.c
+/nameserver.c
+/ndp.c
+/nopt.c
+/nsh-scripts
+/nsh-scripts/bin
+/nsh-scripts/bin/enable-sshd.nshrc
+/nsh-scripts/bin/initial-config.nshrc
+/nsh-scripts/bin/mg-env-settings
+/nsh-scripts/bin/nsh
+/nsh-scripts/bin/nsh-openbsd-integration.sh
+/nsh-scripts/bin/write-config.nshrc
+/nsh-version.mk
+/nsh.8
+/nwrapper.c
+/passwd.c
+/pflow.c
+/pfsync.c
+/ppp.c
+/route.c
+/save-ro.sh
+/save-rw.sh
+/show.c
+/sqlite3.c
+/stats.c
+/stringlist.c
+/stringlist.h
+/sysctl.c
+/sysctl.h
+/test
+/test/basic-show-run.nshrc
+/test/broken-commands.nshrc
+/trunk.c
+/tunnel.c
+/umb.c
+/utils.c
+/version.c
+/wg.c
+/who.c
diff --git a/nsh-version.mk b/nsh-version.mk
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e4340eb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nsh-version.mk
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+# NSH_RELEASE is only set to "Yes" in a release tarball
+NSH_RELEASE=No
+
+# Version number of the next upcoming release.
+# Should be cranked immediately after publishing a release.
+NSH_VERSION_NUMBER=1.2
+
+.if ${NSH_RELEASE} == Yes
+NSH_VERSION=${NSH_VERSION_NUMBER}
+.else
+NSH_VERSION=${NSH_VERSION_NUMBER}-current
+.endif