diff --git a/MANIFEST b/MANIFEST
index c8e2cf0..3cc443d 100644
--- a/MANIFEST
+++ b/MANIFEST
@@ -2174,6 +2174,7 @@ tools/release/crow.pir                                      []
 tools/release/gen_release_info.pl                           []
 tools/release/inc_ver.pir                                   []
 tools/release/release.json                                  []
+tools/release/releasecheck.pl                               []
 tools/release/templates.json                                []
 # Local variables:
 #   mode: text
diff --git a/config/gen/makefiles/root.in b/config/gen/makefiles/root.in
index 7076a6d..3321ec8 100644
--- a/config/gen/makefiles/root.in
+++ b/config/gen/makefiles/root.in
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@ BUILD_TOOLS_DIR = tools/build
 # directory for developers' tools
 # programs, templates, configuration files NOT invoked by 'make all'
 DEV_TOOLS_DIR = tools/dev
+RELEASE_TOOLS_DIR = tools/release
 
 # directory for header files
 INC_DIR         = include/parrot
@@ -823,6 +824,7 @@ help :
 	@echo ""
 	@echo "Release:"
 	@echo "  release:           Create a tarball."
+	@echo "  release_check:     Check that the tarball will build on its own."
 	@echo "  win32-inno-installer:  Create MSWin32 setup."
 	@echo ""
 	@echo "Examples:"
@@ -2915,6 +2917,12 @@ release : MANIFEST MANIFEST.generated
 	mv MANIFEST.real MANIFEST
 	rm parrot-$(VERSION)
 
+release_check:
+	make release VERSION=$(SOVERSION)
+	$(PERL) $(RELEASE_TOOLS_DIR)/releasecheck.pl
+
+relcheck : release_check
+
 win32-inno-installer : world installable
 	$(PERL) $(DEV_TOOLS_DIR)/mk_inno.pl
 	$(INNO_SETUP) parrot.iss
diff --git a/tools/release/releasecheck.pl b/tools/release/releasecheck.pl
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f5a285c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/release/releasecheck.pl
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+# !perl
+use strict;
+use warnings;
+use Data::Dumper;$Data::Dumper::Indent=1;
+use Carp;
+use Cwd;
+use File::Copy;
+use File::Temp qw( tempdir );
+
+my $cwd = cwd();
+opendir my $DIRH, $cwd
+    or croak "Unable to open directory handle";
+my @tarballs = grep { m/parrot-.*\.tar\.gz$/ } readdir $DIRH;
+closedir $DIRH or croak "Unable to close directory handle";
+croak "Should find exactly one gzipped tarball"
+    unless @tarballs == 1;
+my $tb = $tarballs[0];
+my $distro = '';
+if ($tb =~ m/(parrot-\d+\.\d+\.\d+(?:-devel)?)\.tar\.gz$/ ) {
+    $distro = $1;
+}
+else {
+    croak "Unable to extract distro from $tb";
+}
+print "Performing releasecheck on $tb\n";
+{
+    my $tdir = tempdir( CLEANUP => 1 );
+    chdir $tdir or croak "Unable to change to temporary directory";
+    print "Changing to temporary directory\n";
+    my $ctarball = "$tdir/$tb";
+    copy "$cwd/$tb" => $ctarball
+        or croak "Unable to copy $tb";
+    system(qq{tar xzf $ctarball})
+        and croak "Unable to untar $ctarball";
+    chdir $distro or croak "Unable to chdir to $distro";
+    print "Reconfiguring\n";
+    system(qq{$^X Configure.pl --silent}) and croak "Unable to configure";
+    print "Rebuilding\n";
+    system(qq{make --silent}) and croak "Unable to build";
+    print "Retesting\n";
+    system(qq{make test}) and croak "'make test' did not complete successfully";
+    print "Rereleasing\n";
+    system(qq{make release --silent}) and croak "Unable to release";
+    print "Recleaning\n";
+    system(qq{make realclean --silent}) and croak "Unable to realclean";
+    chdir $cwd or croak "Unable to change dir back";
+    print "Leaving temporary directory\n";
+}
+print "Completed releasecheck on $tb\n";