diff --git a/make/.make-release-support b/make/.make-release-support
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5c374e6a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/make/.make-release-support
@@ -0,0 +1,93 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+#
+#   Copyright 2015  Xebia Nederland B.V.
+#
+#   Licensed 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.
+#
+
+function hasChanges() {
+	test -n "$(git status -s .)"
+}
+
+function getRelease() {
+	awk -F= '/release/{print $2}' .release
+}
+
+function getBaseTag() {
+		sed -n -e "s/tag=\(.*\)$(getRelease)\$/\1/p" .release
+}
+
+function getTag() {
+	if [ -z "$1" ] ; then
+		awk -F= '/tag/{print $2}' .release
+	else
+		echo "$(getBaseTag)$1"
+	fi
+}
+
+function setRelease() {
+	if [ -n "$1" ] ; then
+		sed -e "s/tag=.*/tag=$(getTag $1)/" .release > .release.x
+		sed -e "s/release=.*/release=$1/g" .release.x > .release
+		rm -f .release.x
+	else
+		echo "ERROR: missing release version parameter " >&2
+		return 1
+	fi
+}
+
+function tagExists() {
+	tag=${1:-$(getTag)}
+	test -n "$tag" && test -n "$(git tag | grep "^$tag\$")"
+}
+
+function differsFromRelease() {
+	tag=$(getTag)
+	! tagExists $tag || test -n "$(git diff --shortstat -r $tag .)"
+}
+
+function getVersion() {
+	result=$(getRelease)
+
+	if differsFromRelease; then
+		result="$result-$(git rev-parse --short HEAD)"
+	fi
+
+	if hasChanges ; then
+		result="$result-dirty"
+	fi
+	echo $result
+}
+
+function nextPatchLevel() {
+	version=${1:-$(getRelease)}
+	major_and_minor=$(echo $version | cut -d. -f1,2)
+	patch=$(echo $version | cut -d. -f3)
+	version=$(printf "%s.%d" $major_and_minor $(($patch + 1)))
+	echo $version
+}
+
+function nextMinorLevel() {
+	version=${1:-$(getRelease)}
+	major=$(echo $version | cut -d. -f1);
+	minor=$(echo $version | cut -d. -f2);
+	version=$(printf "%d.%d.0" $major $(($minor + 1))) ;
+	echo $version
+}
+
+function nextMajorLevel() {
+	version=${1:-$(getRelease)}
+	major=$(echo $version | cut -d. -f1);
+	version=$(printf "%d.0.0" $(($major + 1)))
+	echo $version
+}
diff --git a/make/Makefile b/make/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5ce888c6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/make/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,108 @@
+#
+#   Copyright 2015  Xebia Nederland B.V.
+#
+#   Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+#   you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+#   You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#       http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+#   Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+#   distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+#   WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+#   See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+#   limitations under the License.
+#
+REGISTRY_HOST=docker.io
+USERNAME=$(USER)
+NAME=$(shell basename $(PWD))
+
+RELEASE_SUPPORT := $(shell dirname $(abspath $(lastword $(MAKEFILE_LIST))))/.make-release-support
+IMAGE=$(REGISTRY_HOST)/$(USERNAME)/$(NAME)
+
+VERSION=$(shell . $(RELEASE_SUPPORT) ; getVersion)
+TAG=$(shell . $(RELEASE_SUPPORT); getTag)
+
+SHELL=/bin/bash
+
+.PHONY: pre-build docker-build post-build build release patch-release minor-release major-release tag check-status check-release showver \
+	push do-push post-push
+
+build: pre-build docker-build post-build
+
+pre-build:
+
+
+post-build:
+
+
+post-push:
+
+
+docker-build: .release
+	docker build -t $(IMAGE):$(VERSION) .
+	@DOCKER_MAJOR=$(shell docker -v | sed -e 's/.*version //' -e 's/,.*//' | cut -d\. -f1) ; \
+	DOCKER_MINOR=$(shell docker -v | sed -e 's/.*version //' -e 's/,.*//' | cut -d\. -f2) ; \
+	if [ $$DOCKER_MAJOR -eq 1 ] && [ $$DOCKER_MINOR -lt 10 ] ; then \
+		echo docker tag -f $(IMAGE):$(VERSION) $(IMAGE):latest ;\
+		docker tag -f $(IMAGE):$(VERSION) $(IMAGE):latest ;\
+	else \
+		echo docker tag $(IMAGE):$(VERSION) $(IMAGE):latest ;\
+		docker tag $(IMAGE):$(VERSION) $(IMAGE):latest ; \
+	fi
+
+.release:
+	@echo "release=0.0.0" > .release
+	@echo "tag=$(NAME)-0.0.0" >> .release
+	@echo INFO: .release created
+	@cat .release
+
+
+release: check-status check-release build push
+
+
+push: do-push post-push 
+
+do-push: 
+	docker push $(IMAGE):$(VERSION)
+	docker push $(IMAGE):latest
+
+snapshot: build push
+
+showver: .release
+	@. $(RELEASE_SUPPORT); getVersion
+
+tag-patch-release: VERSION := $(shell . $(RELEASE_SUPPORT); nextPatchLevel)
+tag-patch-release: .release tag 
+
+tag-minor-release: VERSION := $(shell . $(RELEASE_SUPPORT); nextMinorLevel)
+tag-minor-release: .release tag 
+
+tag-major-release: VERSION := $(shell . $(RELEASE_SUPPORT); nextMajorLevel)
+tag-major-release: .release tag 
+
+patch-release: tag-patch-release release
+	@echo $(VERSION)
+
+minor-release: tag-minor-release release
+	@echo $(VERSION)
+
+major-release: tag-major-release release
+	@echo $(VERSION)
+
+
+tag: TAG=$(shell . $(RELEASE_SUPPORT); getTag $(VERSION))
+tag: check-status
+	@. $(RELEASE_SUPPORT) ; ! tagExists $(TAG) || (echo "ERROR: tag $(TAG) for version $(VERSION) already tagged in git" >&2 && exit 1) ;
+	@. $(RELEASE_SUPPORT) ; setRelease $(VERSION)
+	git add .release
+	git commit -m "bumped to version $(VERSION)" ;
+	git tag $(TAG) ;
+	@[ -n "$(shell git remote -v)" ] && git push --tags
+
+check-status:
+	@. $(RELEASE_SUPPORT) ; ! hasChanges || (echo "ERROR: there are still outstanding changes" >&2 && exit 1) ;
+
+check-release: .release
+	@. $(RELEASE_SUPPORT) ; tagExists $(TAG) || (echo "ERROR: version not yet tagged in git. make [minor,major,patch]-release." >&2 && exit 1) ;
+	@. $(RELEASE_SUPPORT) ; ! differsFromRelease $(TAG) || (echo "ERROR: current directory differs from tagged $(TAG). make [minor,major,patch]-release." ; exit 1)