diff --git a/default-package-info.json b/default-package-info.json
deleted file mode 100644
index 12a03c45..00000000
--- a/default-package-info.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,28 +0,0 @@
-{
-    "author" : "CNMAT",
-    "authors" : ["John MacCallum", "Adrian Freed", "Rama Gottfried", "Ilya Rostovtsev"  ],
-    "description" : "A library for OSC processing created by researchers at CNMAT in Berkeley, CA.",
-    "homepatcher" : "o.overview.maxpat",
-    "max_version_max" : "none",
-    "max_version_min" : "6.0",
-    "name" : "odot",
-    "os" : 	{
-	"macintosh" : 		{
-	    "platform" : [ "x64" ],
-	    "min_version" : "10.10.x"
-	}
-	,
-	"windows" : 		{
-	    "platform" : [ "x64" ],
-	    "min_version" : "7"
-	}
-
-    },
-    "package_extra" : 	{
-	"reverse_domain" : "edu.berkeley.cnmat",
-	"copyright" : "Copyright (c) 2007-21 UC Regents"
-    },
-    "tags" : ["Open Sound Control (OSC)", "Dynamic Programming", "CNMAT" ],
-    "version" : "1.0.1....",
-    "website" : "https://github.com/CNMAT/CNMAT-odot",
-}
diff --git a/make-package-info.py b/make-package-info.py
deleted file mode 100755
index ed3a7809..00000000
--- a/make-package-info.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,40 +0,0 @@
-import json, os, subprocess, platform
-
-print "************************************************"
-
-#packagedirs=(clippings code default-definitions default-settings docs examples extensions externals extras help init interfaces java-classes java-doc javascript jsextensions jsui license.txt media misc patchers object-prototypes queries readme.txt source support templates)
-
-
-def filesinfolder(n):
-    return [f for f in os.listdir(n) if not f.startswith('.')]
-
-with open('default-package-info.json', 'r') as f:
-    pinfo = json.load(f)
-
-    # update the package listings
-    if (platform.system() == 'Darwin'):
-        pinfo['filelist']['externals'] = filesinfolder("externals")
-    else:
-        pinfo['filelist']['externals'] = os.listdir("src/build/Release")
-
-    pinfo['filelist']['help'] = filesinfolder("help")
-    pinfo['filelist']['default-definitions'] = filesinfolder("default-definitions")
-    pinfo['filelist']['docs'] = filesinfolder("docs/refpages/odot_ref")
-    pinfo['filelist']['examples'] = filesinfolder("examples")
-    pinfo['filelist']['extras'] = filesinfolder("extras/odot-extras")
-    pinfo['filelist']['init'] = filesinfolder("init")
-    pinfo['filelist']['interfaces'] = filesinfolder("interfaces")
-    pinfo['filelist']['patchers'] = filesinfolder("patchers")
-
-    pinfo['filelist']['dev'] = filesinfolder("dev")
-
-
-#pinfo['filelist']['clippings'] = filesinfolder("clippings")
-#pinfo['filelist']['misc'] = filesinfolder("misc")
-
-    version = subprocess.check_output("git describe --tags --long", shell=True).strip()
-    branch = subprocess.check_output("git branch | egrep '^\*' | awk '{print $2}'", shell=True).strip()
-    pinfo['version'] = version+"-"+branch
-
-    with open('package-info.json', 'w') as outf:
-        json.dump(pinfo, outf, indent=4)
diff --git a/make-release.sh b/make-release.sh
index aed871e2..1f65a19e 100755
--- a/make-release.sh
+++ b/make-release.sh
@@ -160,7 +160,7 @@ then
 fi
 
 echo "cleaning up release"
-filestodelete=(".git" "src" "make-release.sh" "make-package-info.py" "dev-internal")
+filestodelete=(".git" "src" "make-release.sh" "dev-internal")
 if [ $pd = 0 ]
 then
     filestodelete+=( "pd" )
@@ -171,3 +171,109 @@ do
     echo rm -rf "../${filename}/${filestodelete[$i]}"
     rm -rf "../${filename}/${filestodelete[$i]}"
 done
+
+openobj() {
+    echo "{" >> "$1"
+}
+
+closeobj() {
+    echo "}" >> "$1"
+}
+
+openlist() {
+    echo -n "[" >> "$1"
+}
+
+closelist() {
+    echo -n "]" >> "$1"
+}
+
+writelist() {
+    f="$1"
+    shift
+    n=$#
+    for ((i = 0; i < $n - 1; i++))
+    do
+	echo -n "\"$1\"," >> "$f"
+	shift
+    done
+    echo -n "\"$1\"" >> "$f"
+}
+
+writekey() {
+    echo -n "\"$2\" : " >> "$1"
+}
+
+writesingleval() {
+    echo -n "\"$2\"" >> "$1"
+}
+
+endentry() {
+    echo "," >> "$1"
+}
+
+writesimpleentry() {
+    writekey "$1" "$2"
+    writesingleval "$1" "$3"
+    endentry "$1"
+}
+
+writefinalentry() {
+    writekey "$1" "$2"
+    writesingleval "$1" "$3"
+    echo "" >> "$1"
+}
+
+writelistentry() {
+    f="$1"
+    shift
+    writekey "$f" "$1"
+    shift
+    openlist "$f"
+    writelist "$f" "$@"
+    closelist "$f"
+    endentry "$f"
+}
+
+writepackageinfo() {
+    f="package-info.json"
+    cd ../$filename
+    touch "$f"
+    openobj "$f"
+    writesimpleentry "$f" "author" "CNMAT"
+    writelistentry "$f" "authors" "John MacCallum" "Adrian Freed" "Rama Gottfried" "Ilya Rostovtsev"
+    writesimpleentry "$f" "description" "Dynamic programming environment for OSC in Max"
+    writesimpleentry "$f" "homepatcher" "o.overview.maxpat"
+    writesimpleentry "$f" "max_version_max" "none"
+    writesimpleentry "$f" "max_version_min" "6.0"
+    writesimpleentry "$f" "name" "odot"
+    
+    writekey "$f" "os"
+    openobj "$f"
+      writekey "$f" "macintosh"
+      openobj "$f"
+        writesimpleentry "$f" "platform" "x64"
+        writefinalentry "$f" "min_version" "10.10.0"
+      closeobj "$f"
+      endentry "$f"
+      writekey "$f" "windows"
+      openobj "$f"
+        writesimpleentry "$f" "platform" "x64"
+        writefinalentry "$f" "min_version" "7"
+      closeobj "$f"
+    closeobj "$f"
+    endentry "$f"
+
+    writekey "$f" "package_extras"
+    openobj "$f"
+      writesimpleentry "$f" "reverse_domain" "edu.berkeley.cnmat"
+      writefinalentry "$f" "copyright" "Copyright (c) 2007-21 UC Regents"
+    closeobj "$f"
+    endentry "$f"
+
+    writelistentry "$f" "tags" "Open Sound Control (OSC)" "Dynamic Programming" "CNMAT"
+    writesimpleentry "$f" "version" "$version"
+    writefinalentry "$f" "website" "https://github.com/CNMAT/CNMAT-odot"
+    closeobj "$f"
+}
+writepackageinfo