diff --git a/build/Releasing.md b/build/Releasing.md
index 1dd9c7880..8a9f8bd5e 100644
--- a/build/Releasing.md
+++ b/build/Releasing.md
@@ -72,6 +72,9 @@ To promote a release run the `promote` target as follows:
 make promote CHANNEL=alpha VERSION=v0.4.0
 ```
 
+NOTE: Promoting requires that you have AWS credentials (in ~/.aws or in environment), github token (export GITHUB_TOKEN), and
+quay.io write access (via ~/.docker/credentials).
+
 After promoting a release, on S3 there will be a path for each channel and release promoted as follows:
 
 ```
diff --git a/build/release/binaries.sh b/build/release/binaries.sh
index f628d7b24..3c84a110b 100755
--- a/build/release/binaries.sh
+++ b/build/release/binaries.sh
@@ -68,7 +68,6 @@ publish() {
     local arch=$2
     local file=$(get_archive_name $os $arch)
 
-    echo uploading $file to S3
     s3_upload ${RELEASE_DIR}/$file
 
     # we will always tag master builds as latest. i.e. auto-promote master
@@ -78,7 +77,6 @@ publish() {
 
     if [[ ${os} == "linux" ]]; then
         file=$(get_archive_name $os $arch "debug")
-        echo uploading $file to S3
         s3_upload ${RELEASE_DIR}/$file
 
         if [[ "${RELEASE_CHANNEL}" == "master" ]]; then
@@ -91,16 +89,20 @@ promote() {
     local os=$1
     local arch=$2
     local file=$(get_archive_name $os $arch)
-    local ext=$(get_archive_ext $os)
 
-    echo promoting $file to channel ${RELEASE_CHANNEL}
     s3_promote_file $file
-    github_upload ${RELEASE_DIR}/$file $ext
+    if [[ ! -e ${RELEASE_DIR}/$file ]]; then
+        s3_download ${RELEASE_DIR}/$file
+    fi
+    github_upload ${RELEASE_DIR}/$file
 
     if [[ ${os} == "linux" ]]; then
         file=$(get_archive_name $os $arch "debug")
         s3_promote_file $file
-        github_upload ${RELEASE_DIR}/$file $ext
+        if [[ ! -e ${RELEASE_DIR}/$file ]]; then
+            s3_download ${RELEASE_DIR}/$file
+        fi
+        github_upload ${RELEASE_DIR}/$file
     fi
 }
 
diff --git a/build/release/common.sh b/build/release/common.sh
index 6a840412b..4e4fa8e10 100644
--- a/build/release/common.sh
+++ b/build/release/common.sh
@@ -36,48 +36,99 @@ check_release_version() {
     fi
 }
 
+get_mediatype_from_extension() {
+    local file=$1
+    local ext=${file##*.}
+    local mediatype
+
+    case ${ext} in
+        gz) echo "application/gzip" ;;
+        zip) echo "application/zip" ;;
+        *) echo "UNSUPPORTED" ;;
+    esac
+}
+
 github_get_release_id() {
     curl -4 -s -H "Authorization: token ${GITHUB_TOKEN}" \
        "https://api.github.com/repos/${GITHUB_USER}/${GITHUB_REPO}/releases/tags/${RELEASE_VERSION}" | jq -r '.id'
 }
 
+github_get_upload_url() {
+    curl -4 -s -H "Authorization: token ${GITHUB_TOKEN}" \
+       "https://api.github.com/repos/${GITHUB_USER}/${GITHUB_REPO}/releases/tags/${RELEASE_VERSION}" | jq -r '.upload_url'
+}
+
 github_create_release() {
     id=$(github_get_release_id)
 
     if [[ ${id} == "null" ]]; then
-        curl -4 -s -H "Authorization: token ${GITHUB_TOKEN}" \
+        echo creating a new github release for ${RELEASE_VERSION}
+        id=$(curl -4 -s -H "Authorization: token ${GITHUB_TOKEN}" \
             -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-            -d "{\"tag_name\": \"${RELEASE_VERSION}\",\"target_commitish\": \"master\",\"name\": \"${RELEASE_VERSION}\",\"body\": \"TBD\",\"draft\": true,\"prerelease\": true}" \
-            "https://api.github.com/repos/${GITHUB_USER}/${GITHUB_REPO}/releases"
+            -d "{\"tag_name\": \"${RELEASE_VERSION}\",\"target_commitish\": \"master\",\"name\": \"${RELEASE_VERSION}\",\"body\": \"TBD\",\"draft\": false,\"prerelease\": true}" \
+            "https://api.github.com/repos/${GITHUB_USER}/${GITHUB_REPO}/releases" | jq -r '.id')
+
+        if [[ ${id} == "null" ]]; then
+            echo error: failed to create github release
+            return 1
+        fi
     fi
 }
 
 github_upload() {
     local filepath=$1
-    local mediatype=$2
+    local mediatype=$(get_mediatype_from_extension $filepath)
     local filename=$(basename $filepath)
 
-    id=$(github_get_release_id)
+    upload_url=$(github_get_upload_url)
 
-    curl -4 -s -H "Authorization: token ${GITHUB_TOKEN}" \
+    if [[ ${upload_url} == "null" ]]; then
+        echo error: could not get upload url for github release
+        return 1
+    fi
+
+    if [[ ! -e ${filepath} ]]; then
+        echo error: could not find file ${filepath}
+        return 1
+    fi
+
+    upload_url=${upload_url%{*} # remove the trailing {?name,label}
+
+    echo uploading ${filename} github release ${RELEASE_VERSION}
+    id=$(curl -4 -s -H "Authorization: token ${GITHUB_TOKEN}" \
          -H "Accept: application/vnd.github.manifold-preview" \
-         -H "Content-Type: application/${mediatype}" \
+         -H "Content-Type: ${mediatype}" \
          --data-binary @${filepath} \
-         "https://uploads.github.com/repos/${GITHUB_USER}/${GITHUB_REPO}/releases/${id}/assets?name=${filename}"
+         "${upload_url}?name=${filename}" | jq -r '.id')
+    if [[ ${id} == "null" ]]; then
+        echo error: failed to upload ${filename} to github
+        return 1
+    fi
 }
 
+# we assume that AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID, AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY and possibly AWS_DEFAULT_REGION are already set
+# or ~/.aws/credentials and ~/.aws/config are configured
+
 s3_upload() {
     local filepath=$1
     local filename=$(basename $filepath)
 
-    # we assume that AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID, AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY and possibly AWS_DEFAULT_REGION are already set
-    # or ~/.aws/credentials and ~/.aws/config are configured
+    echo uploading ${filename} to S3 bucket ${RELEASE_S3_BUCKET}
     aws s3 cp --only-show-errors ${filepath} s3://${RELEASE_S3_BUCKET}/${RELEASE_CHANNEL}/${RELEASE_VERSION}/${filename}
 }
 
+s3_download() {
+    local filepath=$1
+    local filename=$(basename $filepath)
+
+    echo downloading ${filename} from S3 bucket ${RELEASE_S3_BUCKET}
+    aws s3 cp --only-show-errors s3://${RELEASE_S3_BUCKET}/${RELEASE_CHANNEL}/${RELEASE_VERSION}/${filename} ${filepath}
+}
+
 s3_promote_file() {
     local filename=$1
 
+    echo copying ${filename} from master to ${RELEASE_CHANNEL} in S3 bucket ${RELEASE_S3_BUCKET}
     if [[ "${RELEASE_CHANNEL}" != "master" ]]; then
         aws s3 cp --only-show-errors s3://${RELEASE_S3_BUCKET}/master/${RELEASE_VERSION}/${filename} s3://${RELEASE_S3_BUCKET}/${RELEASE_CHANNEL}/${RELEASE_VERSION}/${filename}
     fi