diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index b5fa7d3..824c10c 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -7,3 +7,5 @@
 
 /mt
 /stinit
+/version.h
+/mt-st-*.tar.gz
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 2938ef6..3ab1b77 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -8,9 +8,31 @@ MTDIR=$(BINDIR)
 
 PROGS=mt stinit
 
+
+# Release-related variables
+DISTFILES = \
+	CHANGELOG.md \
+	COPYING \
+	Makefile \
+	mt.1 \
+	mt.c \
+	mtio.h \
+	qic117.h \
+	README.md \
+	stinit.8 \
+	stinit.c \
+	stinit.def.examples
+
+VERSION=1.2
+RELEASEDIR=mt-st-$(VERSION)
+TARFILE=mt-st-$(VERSION).tar.gz
+
 all:	$(PROGS)
 
-%: %.c
+version.h: Makefile
+	echo '#define VERSION "$(VERSION)"' > $@
+
+%: %.c version.h
 	$(CC) $(CPPFLAGS) $(CFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS) -o $@ $<
 
 install: $(PROGS)
@@ -24,9 +46,24 @@ install: $(PROGS)
 	(if [ -f $(MANDIR)/man8/stinit.8.gz ] ; then \
 	  rm -f $(MANDIR)/man8/stinit.8.gz; gzip $(MANDIR)/man8/stinit.8; fi)
 
-dist:	clean
-	(mydir=`basename \`pwd\``;\
-	cd .. && tar cvvf - $$mydir | gzip -9 > $${mydir}.tar.gz)
+dist:
+	BASE=`mktemp -d` && \
+	trap "rm -rf $$BASE" EXIT && \
+	DIST="$$BASE/$(RELEASEDIR)" && \
+	mkdir "$$DIST" && \
+	install -m 0644 -p -t "$$DIST/" $(DISTFILES) && \
+	tar czvf $(TARFILE) -C "$$BASE" \
+	  --owner root --group root \
+	  $(RELEASEDIR)
 
+distcheck: dist
+	BASE=`mktemp -d` && \
+	trap "rm -rf $$BASE" EXIT && \
+	tar xvf $(TARFILE) -C "$$BASE" && \
+	cd "$$BASE/$(RELEASEDIR)" && \
+	make && ./mt --version && ./stinit --version && \
+	make dist
 clean:
-	rm -f *~ \#*\# *.o mt stinit
+	rm -f *~ \#*\# *.o $(PROGS) version.h
+
+.PHONY: dist distcheck clean
diff --git a/mt-st-1.1.lsm b/mt-st-1.1.lsm
deleted file mode 100644
index 43d25c1..0000000
--- a/mt-st-1.1.lsm
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,16 +0,0 @@
-Begin4
-Title:          mt-st
-Version:        1.1
-Entered-date:   2008-04-27
-Description:    Magnetic tape control tools for Linux SCSI tapes.
-Includes a mt-like program supporting additional commands using ioctls
-specific to  the Linux SCSI tape driver (up to kernel 2.6.26), and the program
-stinit to define the SCSI tape devices in system startup scripts.
-Keywords:       tape SCSI
-Author:         Kai.Makisara@kolumbus.fi (Kai Makisara)
-Maintained-by:  iustin@k1024.org (Iustin Pop)
-Primary-site:   ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/system/backup
-		36  kB mt-st-1.1.tar.gz
-		0.7 kB mt-st-1.1.lsm
-Copying-policy: GPL
-End
diff --git a/mt.c b/mt.c
index d333529..f570596 100644
--- a/mt.c
+++ b/mt.c
@@ -22,13 +22,12 @@
 #include <sys/utsname.h>
 
 #include "mtio.h"
+#include "version.h"
 
 #ifndef DEFTAPE
 #define DEFTAPE "/dev/tape"     /* default tape device */
 #endif /* DEFTAPE */
 
-#define VERSION "1.1"
-
 typedef int (* cmdfunc)(/* int, struct cmdef_tr *, int, char ** */);
 
 typedef struct cmdef_tr {
diff --git a/stinit.c b/stinit.c
index d4d12ff..b4d60b9 100644
--- a/stinit.c
+++ b/stinit.c
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 #include <scsi/sg.h>
 
 #include "mtio.h"
+#include "version.h"
 
 #ifndef FALSE
 #define TRUE 1
@@ -30,8 +31,6 @@
 #endif
 #define SKIP_WHITE(p) for ( ; *p == ' ' || *p == '\t'; p++)
 
-#define VERSION "1.1"
-
 typedef struct _modepar_tr {
     int defined;
     int blocksize;