diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 0819fea..67de7b9 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ y.tab.h
 
 initial.c
 sigmsgs.c
+version.h
 es
 esdump
 testrun
diff --git a/Makefile.in b/Makefile.in
index 50c3445..bf98da9 100644
--- a/Makefile.in
+++ b/Makefile.in
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ OFILES	= access.o closure.o conv.o dict.o eval.o except.o fd.o gc.o glob.o \
 	  sigmsgs.o signal.o split.o status.o str.o syntax.o term.o token.o \
 	  tree.o util.o var.o vec.o version.o y.tab.o
 OTHER	= Makefile parse.y mksignal
-GEN	= esdump y.tab.h y.output sigmsgs.c initial.c
+GEN	= esdump y.tab.h y.output sigmsgs.c initial.c version.h
 
 SIGFILES = @SIGFILES@
 
@@ -107,6 +107,9 @@ token.h	: parse.y
 
 y.tab.c	: token.h
 
+version.h : mkversion
+	(cd $(srcdir) && sh mkversion) > version.h
+
 initial.c : esdump $(srcdir)/initial.es
 	./esdump < $(srcdir)/initial.es > initial.c
 
@@ -139,7 +142,7 @@ open.o : open.c es.h config.h stdenv.h
 opt.o : opt.c es.h config.h stdenv.h
 prim.o : prim.c es.h config.h stdenv.h prim.h
 prim-ctl.o : prim-ctl.c es.h config.h stdenv.h prim.h
-prim-etc.o : prim-etc.c es.h config.h stdenv.h prim.h
+prim-etc.o : prim-etc.c es.h config.h stdenv.h prim.h version.h
 prim-io.o : prim-io.c es.h config.h stdenv.h gc.h prim.h
 prim-sys.o : prim-sys.c es.h config.h stdenv.h prim.h
 print.o : print.c es.h config.h stdenv.h print.h
@@ -155,4 +158,4 @@ tree.o : tree.c es.h config.h stdenv.h gc.h
 util.o : util.c es.h config.h stdenv.h
 var.o : var.c es.h config.h stdenv.h gc.h var.h term.h
 vec.o : vec.c es.h config.h stdenv.h gc.h
-version.o : version.c es.h config.h stdenv.h
+version.o : version.c es.h config.h stdenv.h version.h
diff --git a/es.h b/es.h
index fef74f0..d3a3c9f 100644
--- a/es.h
+++ b/es.h
@@ -383,7 +383,7 @@ extern int opentty(void);
 
 /* version.c */
 
-extern const char * const version;
+extern const List * const version;
 
 
 /* gc.c -- see gc.h for more */
diff --git a/mkversion b/mkversion
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..7a31b2e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mkversion
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+VERSION=0.9.2
+RELEASEDATE=2-Mar-2022
+
+echo "#define VERSION \"es version $VERSION $RELEASEDATE\""
diff --git a/prim-etc.c b/prim-etc.c
index c2dd788..de6a0f7 100644
--- a/prim-etc.c
+++ b/prim-etc.c
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 
 #include "es.h"
 #include "prim.h"
+#include "version.h"
 
 PRIM(result) {
 	return list;
@@ -33,7 +34,7 @@ PRIM(setnoexport) {
 }
 
 PRIM(version) {
-	return mklist(mkstr((char *) version), NULL);
+	return (List *)version;
 }
 
 PRIM(exec) {
diff --git a/release.es b/release.es
index 1de222b..f8fff66 100755
--- a/release.es
+++ b/release.es
@@ -1,15 +1,62 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env es
 
-# Create a new tarball
+# release.es -- release a new es version.  This script does the following:
+#  - Updates the return value of $&version
+#  - Creates an "update" commit and tags the commit with the new version
+#    (if write-to-git = true).
+#  - Generates a tarball for the new release.
+#
+# To use it to release a new version (e.g., 0.9.3), do the following:
+#  1. Start in an es git repo directory called 'es-0.9.3' with a clean
+#     working tree
+#  2. Edit CHANGES to describe the new release
+#  3. Run `./release.es 0.9.3`.  It will open an editor for you to write the
+#     tag message.  Presumably you should just copy what you added to CHANGES.
+#  4. Assuming everything looks good, run `git push && git push origin v0.9.3`
+#
+# At this point you'll be able to muck about in Github to create a "Release".
+
+# Whether to actually do the git commit and tag.  Mostly for testing purposes.
+write-to-git = true
+
+# make sure everything is on the up and up
 
 if {!~ $#* 1} {
-    echo Must provide a single argument: the release version (e.g. 0.9.1)
-    exit 1
+	echo >[1=2] 'Must provide a single argument: the release version (e.g. 0.9.1)'
+	exit 1
+}
+
+version = $1
+cwd = `{basename `pwd}
+
+if {!~ $cwd es-$version} {
+	echo >[1=2] 'Must release from a directory named es-'^$version
+	exit 1
 }
 
-if {! grep -q $1 version.c} {
-    echo 'Must update version.c to '^$1
-    echo '(yes, this should be automated)'
+let (changes = `` \n {git status -s})
+if {$write-to-git && {!~ $#changes 1 || !~ $changes ' M CHANGES'}} {
+	echo >[1=2] 'Must start with a clean workspace with updated CHANGES file'
+	exit 1
 }
 
-tar chzvf ../es-$1.tar.gz --exclude\=.circleci --exclude\=.gitignore --exclude\=release.es `{git ls-files} config.guess config.sub config.h.in configure install-sh
+# update mkversion, commit and then tag
+
+sed -i \
+	-e 's/VERSION=.*/VERSION='^$version^'/' \
+	-e 's/RELEASEDATE=.*/RELEASEDATE='^`^{date +%e-%b-%Y}^'/' \
+	mkversion
+
+if $write-to-git {
+	git commit -am 'Version '^$version
+	git tag -a v$version
+}
+
+# generate tarball
+
+files = `{git ls-files}
+cd ..
+tar chzvf es-$version.tar.gz \
+	--exclude=.circleci --exclude=.gitignore \
+	--exclude=.gitattributes --exclude=release.es \
+	$cwd/^($files config.guess config.sub config.h.in configure install-sh)
diff --git a/version.c b/version.c
index 2c16f0e..3bc448c 100644
--- a/version.c
+++ b/version.c
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
 #include "es.h"
-static const char id[] = "@(#)es version 0.9.2 2-Mar-2022";
-const char * const version = id + (sizeof "@(#)" - 1);
+#include "term.h"
+#include "version.h"
+
+static const Term
+	version_term = { VERSION, NULL };
+static const List versionstruct = { (Term *) &version_term, NULL };
+const List * const version = &versionstruct;