diff --git a/release/build-release.sh b/release/build-release.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..19a9a48fb21
--- /dev/null
+++ b/release/build-release.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# Copyright 2014 Google Inc. All rights reserved.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+# This script will build a Kubernetes release tarball
+
+# exit on any error
+set -eu
+set -o pipefail
+IFS=$'\n\t'
+
+SCRIPT_DIR=$(cd $(dirname $0); pwd)
+
+INSTANCE_PREFIX=$1
+
+# First build the release tar.  This gets copied on to the master and installed
+# from there.  It includes the go source for the necessary servers along with
+# the salt configs.
+rm -rf output/release/*
+
+MASTER_RELEASE_DIR=output/release/master-release
+mkdir -p $MASTER_RELEASE_DIR/bin
+mkdir -p $MASTER_RELEASE_DIR/src/scripts
+mkdir -p $MASTER_RELEASE_DIR/third_party/go
+
+echo "Building release tree"
+cp release/master-release-install.sh $MASTER_RELEASE_DIR/src/scripts/master-release-install.sh
+cp -r cluster/saltbase $MASTER_RELEASE_DIR/src/saltbase
+
+cat << EOF > $MASTER_RELEASE_DIR/src/saltbase/pillar/common.sls
+instance_prefix: $INSTANCE_PREFIX-minion
+EOF
+
+cp -r third_party/src $MASTER_RELEASE_DIR/third_party/go/src
+
+function find_go_files() {
+  find * -not \( \
+      \( \
+        -wholename 'third_party' \
+        -o -wholename 'release' \
+      \) -prune \
+    \) -name '*.go'
+}
+for f in $(find_go_files); do
+  mkdir -p $MASTER_RELEASE_DIR/src/go/$(dirname ${f})
+  cp ${f} ${MASTER_RELEASE_DIR}/src/go/${f}
+done
+
+echo "Packaging release"
+tar cz -C output/release -f output/release/master-release.tgz master-release
diff --git a/release/release.sh b/release/release.sh
index c902ce58b45..70650f2d390 100755
--- a/release/release.sh
+++ b/release/release.sh
@@ -23,47 +23,15 @@
 # exit on any error
 set -e
 
-source $(dirname $0)/config.sh
+SCRIPT_DIR=$(cd $(dirname $0); pwd)
+
+source $SCRIPT_DIR/config.sh
 
 source $(dirname ${BASH_SOURCE})/../cluster/${KUBE_CONFIG_FILE-"config-default.sh"}
 
-cd $(dirname $0)/..
+cd $SCRIPT_DIR/..
 
-# First build the release tar.  This gets copied on to the master and installed
-# from there.  It includes the go source for the necessary servers along with
-# the salt configs.
-rm -rf output/release/*
-
-MASTER_RELEASE_DIR=output/release/master-release
-mkdir -p $MASTER_RELEASE_DIR/bin
-mkdir -p $MASTER_RELEASE_DIR/src/scripts
-mkdir -p $MASTER_RELEASE_DIR/third_party/go
-
-echo "Building release tree"
-cp release/master-release-install.sh $MASTER_RELEASE_DIR/src/scripts/master-release-install.sh
-cp -r cluster/saltbase $MASTER_RELEASE_DIR/src/saltbase
-
-cat << EOF > $MASTER_RELEASE_DIR/src/saltbase/pillar/common.sls
-instance_prefix: $INSTANCE_PREFIX-minion
-EOF
-
-cp -r third_party/src $MASTER_RELEASE_DIR/third_party/go/src
-
-function find_go_files() {
-  find * -not \( \
-      \( \
-        -wholename 'third_party' \
-        -o -wholename 'release' \
-      \) -prune \
-    \) -name '*.go'
-}
-for f in $(find_go_files); do
-  mkdir -p $MASTER_RELEASE_DIR/src/go/$(dirname ${f})
-  cp ${f} ${MASTER_RELEASE_DIR}/src/go/${f}
-done
-
-echo "Packaging release"
-tar cz -C output/release -f output/release/master-release.tgz master-release
+$SCRIPT_DIR/build-release.sh $INSTANCE_PREFIX
 
 echo "Building launch script"
 # Create the local install script.  These are the tools to install the local