diff --git a/README.txt b/README.md
similarity index 100%
rename from README.txt
rename to README.md
diff --git a/assembly.xml b/assembly.xml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..3cff072e8a6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/assembly.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+
+
+ src
+
+ zip
+
+
+
+ ${project.basedir}
+
+
+ **/target/**
+ **/.*/**
+
+
+
+
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/check-release.sh b/check-release.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..00d2212d398
--- /dev/null
+++ b/check-release.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,115 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+##
+## Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+## contributor license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
+## this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+## The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+## (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+## the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at
+##
+## http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+##
+## Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+## distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+## WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+## See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+## limitations under the License.
+##
+
+USERNAME=${1}
+VERSION=${2}
+SHA=${3}
+
+if [ -z "$USERNAME" -o -z "$VERSION" -o -z "$SHA" ]
+then
+ echo "Usage: $0 [temp-directory]"
+ exit
+fi
+
+STAGING="http://people.apache.org/~$USERNAME/jackrabbit/$VERSION/"
+
+WORKDIR=${4:-target/jackrabbit-staging-`date +%s`}
+mkdir $WORKDIR -p -v
+
+echo "[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------"
+echo "[INFO] DOWNLOAD STAGED REPOSITORY "
+echo "[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------"
+echo "[INFO] "
+
+if [ `wget --help | grep "no-check-certificate" | wc -l` -eq 1 ]
+then
+ CHECK_SSL=--no-check-certificate
+fi
+
+wget $CHECK_SSL --wait 1 -nv -r -np "--reject=html,txt" -P "$WORKDIR" -nH "--cut-dirs=3" --ignore-length "${STAGING}"
+
+echo "[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------"
+echo "[INFO] CHECK SIGNATURES AND DIGESTS "
+echo "[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------"
+echo "[INFO] "
+
+## 1. check sha from release email against src.zip.sha file
+
+downloaded_sha=$(cat `find $WORKDIR -type f | grep jackrabbit-$VERSION-src.zip.sha`)
+if [ "$SHA" = "$downloaded_sha" ]; then echo "[INFO] Step 1. Release checksum matches provided checksum."; else echo "[ERROR] Step 1. Release checksum does not match provided checksum!"; fi
+echo "[INFO] "
+
+## 2. check signatures on the artifacts
+echo "[INFO] Step 2. Check individual files"
+
+for f in `find ${WORKDIR} -type f | grep '\.\(zip\|rar\|jar\|war\)$'`
+do
+ echo "[INFO] $f"
+ gpg --verify $f.asc 2>/dev/null
+ if [ "$?" = "0" ]; then CHKSUM="GOOD"; else CHKSUM="BAD!!!!!!!!"; fi
+ if [ ! -f "$f.asc" ]; then CHKSUM="----"; fi
+ echo "gpg: ${CHKSUM}"
+
+ for hash in md5 sha1
+ do
+ tp=`echo $hash | cut -c 1-3`
+ if [ ! -f "$f.$tp" ]
+ then
+ CHKSUM="----"
+ else
+ A="`cat $f.$tp 2>/dev/null`"
+ B="`openssl $hash < $f 2>/dev/null | sed 's/.*= *//' `"
+ if [ "$A" = "$B" ]; then CHKSUM="GOOD (`cat $f.$tp`)"; else CHKSUM="BAD!! : $A not equal to $B"; fi
+ fi
+ echo "$tp : ${CHKSUM}"
+ done
+done
+
+## 3. check tag contents vs src archive contents
+echo "[INFO] "
+echo "[INFO] Step 3. Check SVN Tag for version $VERSION with src zip file contents"
+
+echo "[INFO] doing svn checkout, please wait..."
+SVNTAGDIR="$WORKDIR/tag-svn/jackrabbit-$VERSION"
+svn --quiet export http://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/jackrabbit/tags/$VERSION $SVNTAGDIR
+
+echo "[INFO] unzipping src zip file, please wait..."
+ZIPTAG="$WORKDIR/tag-zip"
+unzip -q $WORKDIR/jackrabbit-$VERSION-src.zip -d $ZIPTAG
+ZIPTAGDIR="$ZIPTAG/jackrabbit-$VERSION"
+
+DIFFOUT=`diff -r $SVNTAGDIR $ZIPTAGDIR`
+if [ -n "$DIFFOUT" ]
+then
+ echo "[ERROR] Found some differences!"
+ echo "$DIFFOUT"
+else
+ echo "[INFO] No differences found."
+fi
+
+## 4. run the build with the pedantic profile to have the rat licence check enabled
+
+echo "[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------"
+echo "[INFO] RUNNING MAVEN BUILD "
+echo "[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------"
+echo "[INFO] "
+
+cd "$ZIPTAGDIR"
+mvn package -Ppedantic
+
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 0490376ce45..153c43050f0 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@
oak-parent/pom.xml
- oak
+ jackrabbit-oak
Jackrabbit Oak
pom
@@ -69,4 +69,127 @@
+
+
+ apache-release
+
+ ${user.name}
+ ${user.home}/.ssh/id_rsa
+
+
+
+
+
+ maven-assembly-plugin
+
+
+
+ single
+
+ package
+
+
+ assembly.xml
+
+
+
+
+ source-release-assembly
+
+ true
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ maven-antrun-plugin
+
+
+
+ run
+
+ deploy
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+From: ${username}@apache.org
+To: dev@jackrabbit.apache.org
+Subject: [VOTE] Release Apache Jackrabbit Oak ${project.version}
+
+A candidate for the Jackrabbit Oak ${project.version} release is available at:
+
+ http://people.apache.org/~${username}/oak/${project.version}/
+
+The release candidate is a zip archive of the sources in:
+
+ http://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/jackrabbit/oak/tags/${project.version}/
+
+The SHA1 checksum of the archive is ${checksum}.
+
+A staged Maven repository is available for review at:
+
+ https://repository.apache.org/
+
+The command for running automated checks against this release candidate is:
+
+ $ sh check-release.sh ${username} ${project.version} ${checksum}
+
+Please vote on releasing this package as Apache Jackrabbit Oak ${project.version}.
+The vote is open for the next 72 hours and passes if a majority of at
+least three +1 Jackrabbit PMC votes are cast.
+
+ [ ] +1 Release this package as Apache Jackrabbit Oak ${project.version}
+ [ ] -1 Do not release this package because...${line.separator}
+
+
+
+The release candidate has been prepared in:
+
+ ${basedir}/target/${project.version}
+
+Please deploy it to people.apache.org like this:
+
+ scp -r ${basedir}/target/${project.version} people.apache.org:public_html/oak/
+
+A release vote template has been generated for you:
+
+ file://${basedir}/target/vote.txt
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ org.apache.ant
+ ant-nodeps
+ 1.8.1
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+