diff --git a/release.sh b/release.sh
index 226cb82426407448a3c905c1487e9c8a40b7bb7c..130ae6bad3dfe386b53d09794805025bdb6edd26 100755
--- a/release.sh
+++ b/release.sh
@@ -33,7 +33,9 @@ hg archive "$RELDIR"  || exit 2
 
 rm -r "$RELDIR/autom4te.cache" || exit 2
 
-(cd $RELDIR/.. && tar cjf $ARCHIVE `basename "$RELDIR"`) || exit 2
+rm "$RELDIR/.hgtags"
+
+(cd "$RELDIR/.." && tar cjf $ARCHIVE `basename "$RELDIR"`) || exit 2
 
 ls -l $ARCHIVE
 openssl sha -sha256 $ARCHIVE