diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 199a2b8c2..f31437325 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,6 +1,3 @@
-# TODO: 'cp go/mlr .' or 'copy go\mlr.exe .' with reliable platform detection
-# and no confusing error messages.
-
 build:
 	make -C go build
 	@echo "Miller executable is: ./mlr, or go\mlr.exe on Windows"
@@ -35,5 +32,10 @@ precommit:
 # Keystroke-saver
 itso: build check install
 
+# Please see comments in ./create-release-tarball as well as
+# https://miller.readthedocs.io/en/latest/build/#creating-a-new-release-for-developers
+release_tarball: build check
+	./create-release-tarball
+
 # Go does its own dependency management, outside of make.
-.PHONY: build precommit
+.PHONY: build check install precommit
diff --git a/create-release-tarball b/create-release-tarball
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..f47db1554
--- /dev/null
+++ b/create-release-tarball
@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# ================================================================
+# This script creates a file like "miller-6.0.0.tar.gz".
+#
+# * The developer should run this script to create that .tar.gz file
+#
+# * Then attach it as an asset to a release created at
+#   https://github.com/johnkerl/miller/releases.
+#
+# * Then the 'Source' link in ./miller.spec should already be correct.
+#
+# * Normally this script wouldn't be run directly; rather, from the Makefile's
+#   'make release_tarball' which will first run 'make build' and 'make check'.
+#
+# Please also see
+# https://miller.readthedocs.io/en/latest/build/#creating-a-new-release-for-developers
+#
+# Note that GitHub makes a 'Source code (tar.gz)' which could be used in place
+# of the tarball which this script creates. However, this script makes some
+# effort to remove directories which are not necessary for the install, which
+# reduces tarball size.
+#
+# Testing:
+# * Run this script
+# * Move the miller-i.j.k.tar.gz file off somewhere else, like /tmp
+# * cd to the directory where you put the tarbll
+# * tar zxf miller-i.j.k.tar.gz
+# * cd miller-i.j.k
+# * ./configure --prefix /usr/local
+# * make build check
+# * make build check install # if you prefer
+# ================================================================
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+# Make sure ./mlr exists so we can ask it for its version string.
+if [ ! -x "./mlr" ]; then
+  echo "$0: ./mlr is not executable. Please check 'make build' first." 1>&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+# Find the Miller version string, such as "6.0.0".
+VERSION=$(./mlr --bare-version)
+if [ "$VERSION" == "" ] ; then
+  echo "$0: could not obtain output from './mlr --bare-version'." 1>&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+# Try to find a version of tar which supports the --transform flag.
+# Linux tar does; MacOS default tar does not, but 'brew install gnu-tar' will
+# install gtar which does.
+tar=/usr/bin/tar
+if [ -x /usr/local/bin/gtar ]; then
+  tar=/usr/local/bin/gtar
+fi
+if [ ! -x "$tar" ]; then
+  echo "$0: "$tar" is not executable. Please edit this script with the path." 1>&2
+  echo "to a version of tar which supports the --transform flag." 1>&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+# Make sure the current directory is writeable, so we can (perhaps) create a
+# more informative error message than tar would.
+if [ ! -w . ]; then
+  echo "$0: the current directory is not writeable; cannot create tarball." 1>&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+TGZ_NAME=miller-${VERSION}.tar.gz
+
+# Create the release tarball.
+echo "Wrtiting $TGZ_NAME ..."
+$tar \
+  --transform 's,^./,miller-'$VERSION'/,'  \
+  --exclude data \
+  --exclude docs \
+  --exclude experiments \
+  --exclude go/todo.txt \
+  --exclude perf \
+  --exclude python \
+  --exclude vim \
+  -czf $TGZ_NAME \
+  ./LICENSE.txt \
+  ./README.md \
+  ./README-RPM.md \
+  ./configure \
+  ./Makefile \
+  ./create-release-tarball \
+  ./go \
+  ./man
+
+echo "Wrote    $TGZ_NAME"
diff --git a/go/Makefile b/go/Makefile
index e1705b416..9f94513bc 100644
--- a/go/Makefile
+++ b/go/Makefile
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 # Please edit Makefile.in rather than Makefile, which is overwritten by ../configure.
-PREFIX=/usr
+PREFIX=/usr/local
 INSTALLDIR=$(PREFIX)/bin
 
 # Attempt cp; will fail on Windows but ignore and continue
diff --git a/go/src/climain/mlrcli_parse.go b/go/src/climain/mlrcli_parse.go
index db43870c7..c5ed8418f 100644
--- a/go/src/climain/mlrcli_parse.go
+++ b/go/src/climain/mlrcli_parse.go
@@ -41,7 +41,10 @@ func ParseCommandLine(args []string) (
 			cli.CheckArgCount(args, argi, argc, 1)
 			argi += 2
 		} else if args[argi] == "--version" {
-			fmt.Printf("Miller %s\n", version.STRING)
+			fmt.Printf("mlr %s\n", version.STRING)
+			os.Exit(0)
+		} else if args[argi] == "--bare-version" {
+			fmt.Printf("%s\n", version.STRING)
 			os.Exit(0)
 
 		} else if help.ParseTerminalUsage(args[argi]) {
diff --git a/go/src/version/version.go b/go/src/version/version.go
index 966b51064..89199e98b 100644
--- a/go/src/version/version.go
+++ b/go/src/version/version.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 package version
 
 // STRING is the current Miller major/minor/patch version as a single string.
-var STRING string = "v6.0.0-dev"
+var STRING string = "6.0.0-dev"
diff --git a/go/todo.txt b/go/todo.txt
index 20f7690da..cc909c95c 100644
--- a/go/todo.txt
+++ b/go/todo.txt
@@ -2,18 +2,21 @@
 PUNCHDOWN LIST
 
 * plan:
+  o release prep
+    k ./configure experiment
+    k miller.spec experiment
+    k 'make release_tarball'
+    o update build.mi#dev steps
   o conda etc
-    - get a link for rmd
-    - ./configure experiment
-    - miller.spec experiment
+    - get a conda link for rmd
     - distcheck: gtar --transform 's,^./,miller-6.0.0/,' --exclude ./.git -czf /tmp/miller-6.0.0.tgz .
+      > also exclude: data, docs, experiments, per, python, vim
       > on macos, 'brew install gnu-tar' will install 'gtar'
   o blockers:
     - fractional-strptime
     - cmp-matrices
     - all-contribs
     - license triple-checks
-    - ./configure --prefix
     ? alpha?
     - csv irs lf/crlf ignores -- ? already is so?
     - `mlr put` -> coverart
diff --git a/man/Makefile b/man/Makefile
index 6dcb432a4..c2d9d99f3 100644
--- a/man/Makefile
+++ b/man/Makefile
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 # This should be run after make in the ../c directory but before make in the ../docs directory,
 # since ../go/mlr is used to autogenerate ./manpage.txt which is used in ../docs.
 # See also https://miller.readthedocs.io/en/latest/build.html#creating-a-new-release-for-developers
-PREFIX=/usr
+PREFIX=/usr/local
 INSTALLDIR=$(PREFIX)/share/man/man1
 
 # This is normally done only on a development host. Through CI and