diff --git a/.maintainer-scripts/release-dwarfs.sh b/.maintainer-scripts/release-dwarfs.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..a717d447
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.maintainer-scripts/release-dwarfs.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,195 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+if [ "$#" -gt 1 ]; then
+  echo "usage: $0 [<directory>]"
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+set -e
+shopt -s extglob
+
+DIR="$(realpath "${1:-$(pwd)}")"
+RELDIR="$DIR/release"
+
+# TODO: maybe allow for stuff like RCn for release candidates
+SOURCE_TARBALL=$(basename $(eval echo "$DIR/dwarfs-+([0-9.]).tar.zst"))
+VERSION=$(echo "$SOURCE_TARBALL" | sed -E 's/dwarfs-(.+).tar.zst/\1/')
+
+echo "Source: $SOURCE_TARBALL"
+echo "Version: $VERSION"
+
+mkdir -p "$RELDIR"
+
+recompress_tarball() {
+  local src="$1"
+  local dst="$2"
+
+  local fullsrc="$DIR/$src.tar.zst"
+  local fulldst="$RELDIR/$dst.tar.xz"
+
+  if [[ "$src" == "$dst" ]]; then
+    zstd -dc "$fullsrc" | xz -9e > "$fulldst"
+  else
+    mkdir -p "$RELDIR/$dst"
+    tar xf "$fullsrc" -C "$RELDIR/$dst" --strip-components=1
+    tar cf - -C "$RELDIR" $dst | xz -9e > "$fulldst"
+    rm -rf "$RELDIR/$dst"
+  fi
+}
+
+release_tarball() {
+  local src="$1"
+  local dst="$2"
+
+  if [[ -z "$dst" ]]; then
+    dst="$src"
+  fi
+
+  local fulldst="$RELDIR/$dst.tar.xz"
+
+  if [ -f "$fulldst" ]; then
+    echo "$fulldst already exists, skipping"
+  else
+    echo "Creating $fulldst"
+    recompress_tarball "$src" "$dst" &
+  fi
+}
+
+recompress_7z() {
+  local src="$1"
+  local dst="$2"
+
+  local fullsrc="$DIR/$src.7z"
+  local fulldst="$RELDIR/$dst.7z"
+  local curcwd=$(pwd)
+
+  cd "$RELDIR"
+  7zz x "$fullsrc" -bsp0 -bso0
+  if [[ "$src" != "$dst" ]]; then
+    mv "$src" "$dst"
+  fi
+  rm -rf "$dst/include"
+  rm -rf "$dst/lib"
+  7zz a -t7z "$dst.7z" "$dst" -mx=9 -m0=lzma2 -md=64m -mfb=273 -mmt=on -bsp0 -bso0
+  rm -rf "$dst"
+  cd "$curcwd"
+}
+
+release_7z() {
+  local src="$1"
+  local dst="$2"
+
+  if [[ -z "$dst" ]]; then
+    dst="$src"
+  fi
+
+  local fulldst="$RELDIR/$dst.7z"
+
+  if [ -f "$fulldst" ]; then
+    echo "$fulldst already exists, skipping"
+  else
+    echo "Creating $fulldst"
+    recompress_7z "$src" "$dst" &
+  fi
+}
+
+recompress_upx() {
+  local src="$1"
+  local dst="$2"
+
+  local fullsrc="$DIR/$src"
+  local tmp="$RELDIR/$dst.tmp"
+  local fulldst="$RELDIR/$dst"
+
+  upx -d -qqq -o "$tmp" "$fullsrc"
+  upx -9 --best --brute -qqq -o "$fulldst" "$tmp"
+  rm -f "$tmp"
+}
+
+release_binary() {
+  local src="$1"
+  local dst="$2"
+
+  if [[ -z "$dst" ]]; then
+    dst="$src"
+  fi
+
+  local fulldst="$RELDIR/$dst"
+  if [ -f "$fulldst" ]; then
+    echo "$fulldst already exists, skipping"
+  else
+    echo "Creating $fulldst"
+    local fullsrc="$DIR/$src"
+    ### TODO: maybe enable this in the future
+    # recompress_upx "$fullsrc" "$fulldst" &
+    cp "$fullsrc" "$fulldst"
+  fi
+}
+
+show_shasums() {
+  local curcwd=$(pwd)
+  cd "$RELDIR"
+  echo "--------------------------------------------------"
+  sha256sum *
+  cd "$curcwd"
+}
+
+release_tarball "dwarfs-$VERSION" "dwarfs-$VERSION"
+
+release_7z "dwarfs-$VERSION-Windows-AMD64"
+release_binary "dwarfs-universal-$VERSION-Windows-AMD64.exe"
+
+for ARCH in aarch64 x86_64; do
+  VA="$VERSION-Linux-$ARCH"
+  release_tarball "dwarfs-$VA-clang-minsize-musl-mimalloc-lto" "dwarfs-$VA"
+  release_binary "dwarfs-universal-$VA-clang-minsize-musl-mimalloc-lto" "dwarfs-universal-$VA"
+  release_binary "dwarfs-fuse-extract-$VA-clang-minsize-musl-minimal-mimalloc-lto" "dwarfs-fuse-extract-$VA"
+done
+
+jobs -l
+wait
+
+show_shasums
+
+# WHICH_LINUX={clang,clang-reldbg-stacktrace}
+# 
+# [ -d "$RELDIR" ] || mkdir "$RELDIR"
+# 
+# cp_unless_exists() {
+#   local filename="$(basename "$1")"
+#   if [ -f "$RELDIR/$filename" ]; then
+#     echo "$RELDIR/$filename already exists, skipping"
+#   else
+#     cp "$1" "$RELDIR"
+#   fi
+# }
+# 
+# for pkg in "$DIR"/dwarfs-+([0-9.]).tar.zst $(eval echo "$DIR/dwarfs-*-Linux-*-$WHICH_LINUX.tar.zst"); do
+#   OUTPUT="$RELDIR"/$(basename "$pkg" .zst).xz
+#   if [ -f "$OUTPUT" ]; then
+#     echo "$OUTPUT already exists, skipping"
+#     continue
+#   fi
+#   zstd -dc "$pkg" | xz -9e > "$OUTPUT" &
+# done
+# 
+# cp_unless_exists $DIR/dwarfs-*-Windows-AMD64.7z
+# 
+# for ub in $(eval echo "$DIR/dwarfs-universal-*-Linux-*-$WHICH_LINUX"); do
+#   cp_unless_exists "$ub"
+# done
+# cp_unless_exists "$DIR"/dwarfs-universal-*-Windows-AMD64.exe
+# 
+# chmod 644 "$RELDIR"/*.{xz,7z,exe}
+# chmod 755 "$RELDIR"/dwarfs-universal-*-Linux-*
+# 
+# # XXX: this recompression makes the executables much slower to start up
+# # for exe in "$DIR"/dwarfs-universal-*; do
+# #   upx -d -qqq -o "$RELDIR"/$(basename "$exe").tmp "$exe" && upx -9 -qqq -o "$RELDIR"/$(basename "$exe") "$RELDIR"/$(basename "$exe").tmp &
+# # done
+# 
+# jobs -l
+# 
+# wait
+# 
+# # rm "$RELDIR"/*.tmp