diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 97ba31f24e..e44fed0ac8 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -35,11 +35,26 @@ DIST_SUBDIRS=ext gst-libs \
 	pkgconfig
 
 EXTRA_DIST=gst-plugins.spec depcomp \
-	   AUTHORS COPYING COPYING.LIB README RELEASE REQUIREMENTS \
+	   AUTHORS COPYING COPYING.LIB README REQUIREMENTS \
 	   ChangeLog autogen.sh common m4
 
 DISTCLEANFILES=_stdint.h
 
+# to do a release, run "make release"
+# this will generate all archives and md5sums
+                                                                                
+# make bz2 as well
+AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = dist-bzip2
+                                                                                
+release: dist
+	make @PACKAGE@-@VERSION@.tar.gz.md5
+	make @PACKAGE@-@VERSION@.tar.bz2.md5
+                                                                                
+# generate md5 sum files
+%.md5: %
+	md5sum $< > $@
+                                                                                
+
 dist-hook:
 	rm -rf `find $(distdir)/common -name CVS`
 	rm -rf `find $(distdir)/m4 -name CVS`
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 7b5c652b52..1d12d25a61 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ AM_MAINTAINER_MODE
 
 dnl when going to/from release please set the nano (fourth number) right !
 dnl releases only do Wall, cvs and prerelease does Werror too
-AS_VERSION(gst-plugins, GST_PLUGINS_VERSION, 0, 7, 3, 2, GST_CVS="no", GST_CVS="yes")
+AS_VERSION(gst-plugins, GST_PLUGINS_VERSION, 0, 7, 4, 1, GST_CVS="no", GST_CVS="yes")
 
 dnl add a suffix to apps
 if test x$program_suffix = xNONE ; then