diff --git a/release.sh b/release.sh
index 67a7d2adc2cb0ecc5d544fa32af37ef2327284e6..1f4f61a7407a170ae634d2bb7270ef84f0b4fd15 100755
--- a/release.sh
+++ b/release.sh
@@ -169,20 +169,43 @@ else
   git archive -o plumed-$version.tgz --prefix plumed-$version/ v$version
   echo
   echo "Done!"
-  echo
-  echo "Please upload the file plumed-$version.tgz on the download directory"
-  echo "Remember to notify the mailing list"
+  echo "Now creating partial tar files"
+  rm -fr plumed-$version
+  tar xzf plumed-$version.tgz
+  tar czf plumed-doc-$version.tgz plumed-$version/*-doc
+  tar czf plumed-test-$version.tgz plumed-$version/regtest
+  rm -fr plumed-$version/*-doc
+  rm -fr plumed-$version/regtest
+  tar czf plumed-src-$version.tgz plumed-$version
+  rm -fr plumed-$version
   cd macports
   plumed_repository=https://github.com/plumed/plumed2.git make
   cd ../
+  echo "**** NOW DO THE FOLLOWING THINGS  ****"
+  echo
+  echo "1. Upload the file plumed-$version.tgz on the download directory"
+  echo
+  echo "2. Make a new github release and upload these files:"
+  echo "plumed-$version.tgz"
+  echo "plumed-doc-$version.tgz"
+  echo "plumed-test-$version.tgz"
+  echo "plumed-src-$version.tgz"
   echo
+  echo "3. Update Portfile"
   echo "In directory macports/science/plumed you can find a Portfile for this release"
   echo "Please inspect it manually and add it to the ports repository"
+  echo "Here are the corresponding checksums"
+  echo -n "checksums "
+# this list can be extended in case we want to compute checksums for multiple
+# files. so far it only does plumed-src
+  for file in plumed-src
+  do
+    echo " \\"
+    echo "  $file-\${version}.tgz \\"
+    echo "          sha256 $(openssl dgst -sha256 $file-$version.tgz |awk '{print $NF}') \\"
+    echo "          rmd160 $(openssl dgst -rmd160 $file-$version.tgz |awk '{print $NF}')"
+  done
+  echo
+  echo "4. Notify the mailing list"
 fi
 
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