diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 165945413..251381f0c 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-bin/
+_output
 vendor-v[0-9].[0-9].[0-9]/
 
 hack/*/.vagrant/
diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 07020f8f6..6d69480db 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -3,4 +3,4 @@ go:
   - 1.6
 script:
   - test -z "$(go generate pkg/asset/templates_gen.go && git diff | tee /dev/stderr)"
-  - make clean check all
+  - make clean release
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index ef894be79..11eada4a2 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -2,24 +2,33 @@ export GO15VENDOREXPERIMENT:=1
 export CGO_ENABLED:=0
 export GOARCH:=amd64
 
+LOCAL_OS:=$(shell uname | tr A-Z a-z)
 GOFILES:=$(shell find . -name '*.go' | grep -v -E '(./vendor|internal/templates.go)')
+TEMPLATES:=$(shell find pkg/asset/templates -type f)
 GOPATH_BIN:=$(shell echo ${GOPATH} | awk 'BEGIN { FS = ":" }; { print $1 }')/bin
 
-all: bin/linux/bootkube bin/darwin/bootkube
+all: _output/bin/linux/bootkube _output/bin/darwin/bootkube
+
+release: clean check _output/release/bootkube-linux-amd64.tar.gz _output/release/bootkube-darwin-amd64.tar.gz
 
 check: pkg/asset/internal/templates.go
 	@find . -name vendor -prune -o -name '*.go' -exec gofmt -s -d {} +
 	@go vet $(shell go list ./... | grep -v '/vendor/')
 	@go test -v $(shell go list ./... | grep -v '/vendor/')
 
-bin/%/bootkube: $(GOFILES) pkg/asset/internal/templates.go
+_output/bin/%/bootkube: LDFLAGS=-X github.com/coreos/bootkube/pkg/version.Version=$(shell $(CURDIR)/build/git-version.sh)
+_output/bin/%/bootkube: $(GOFILES) pkg/asset/internal/templates.go
 	mkdir -p $(dir $@)
-	GOOS=$* go build -o bin/$*/bootkube github.com/coreos/bootkube/cmd/bootkube
+	GOOS=$* go build -ldflags "$(LDFLAGS)" -o _output/bin/$*/bootkube github.com/coreos/bootkube/cmd/bootkube
+
+_output/release/bootkube-%-amd64.tar.gz: _output/bin/%/bootkube
+	@mkdir -p $(dir $@)
+	tar czf $@ -C $(dir $<) bootkube
 
-install: bin/$(shell uname | tr A-Z a-z)/bootkube
+install: _output/bin/$(LOCAL_OS)/bootkube
 	cp $< $(GOPATH_BIN)
 
-pkg/asset/internal/templates.go: $(GOFILES)
+pkg/asset/internal/templates.go: $(GOFILES) $(TEMPLATES)
 	mkdir -p $(dir $@)
 	go generate pkg/asset/templates_gen.go
 
@@ -47,8 +56,7 @@ vendor-$(VENDOR_VERSION):
 	@rm -rf $@/k8s.io/kubernetes/Godeps $@/k8s.io/kubernetes/.git
 
 clean:
-	rm -rf bin/
+	rm -rf _output
 	rm -rf pkg/asset/internal
 
-.PHONY: all check clean install vendor pkg/asset/internal/templates.go
-
+.PHONY: all check clean install release vendor
diff --git a/build/build-release.sh b/build/build-release.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..c0957e32a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build/build-release.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+set -euo pipefail
+
+SCRIPT_DIR="$( cd "$( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" && pwd )"
+
+BOOTKUBE_ROOT=${SCRIPT_DIR}/..
+BOOTKUBE_RELEASE=${BOOTKUBE_BIN:-${BOOTKUBE_ROOT}/_output/release/bootkube-linux-amd64.tar.gz}
+DOCKER_REPO=${DOCKER_REPO:-quay.io/coreos/bootkube}
+DOCKER_TAG=${DOCKER_TAG:-$(${BOOTKUBE_ROOT}/build/git-version.sh)}
+DOCKER_PUSH=${DOCKER_PUSH:-false}
+
+sudo rkt run \
+    --volume bk,kind=host,source=${BOOTKUBE_ROOT} \
+    --mount volume=bk,target=/go/src/github.com/coreos/bootkube \
+    --insecure-options=image docker://golang:1.6.2 --exec /bin/bash -- -c \
+    "cd /go/src/github.com/coreos/bootkube && make clean release"
+
+TEMPDIR=$(mktemp -d -t bootkube.XXXX)
+
+printf "FROM scratch\nCOPY bootkube /bootkube" > ${TEMPDIR}/Dockerfile
+tar xzvf ${BOOTKUBE_RELEASE} -C ${TEMPDIR}
+docker build -t ${DOCKER_REPO}:${DOCKER_TAG} ${TEMPDIR}
+rm -rf ${TEMPDIR}
+
+if [[ ${DOCKER_PUSH} == "true" ]]; then
+    docker push ${DOCKER_REPO}:${DOCKER_TAG}
+fi
diff --git a/build/git-version.sh b/build/git-version.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..672f9796f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build/git-version.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+set -euo pipefail
+
+# parse the current git commit hash
+COMMIT=$(git rev-parse HEAD)
+
+# check if the current commit has a matching tag
+TAG=$(git describe --exact-match --abbrev=0 --tags ${COMMIT} 2> /dev/null || true)
+
+# use the matching tag as the version, if available
+if [ -z "$TAG" ]; then
+    VERSION=$COMMIT
+else
+    VERSION=$TAG
+fi
+
+# check for changed files (not untracked files)
+if [ -n "$(git diff --shortstat 2> /dev/null | tail -n1)" ]; then
+    VERSION="${VERSION}-dirty"
+fi
+
+echo $VERSION
diff --git a/cmd/bootkube/main.go b/cmd/bootkube/main.go
index 4abc97013..229c42489 100644
--- a/cmd/bootkube/main.go
+++ b/cmd/bootkube/main.go
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@ import (
 	"os"
 
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
+
+	"github.com/coreos/bootkube/pkg/version"
 )
 
 var (
@@ -13,9 +15,20 @@ var (
 		Short: "Bootkube!",
 		Long:  "",
 	}
+
+	cmdVersion = &cobra.Command{
+		Use:   "version",
+		Short: "Output version information",
+		Long:  "",
+		RunE: func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
+			fmt.Printf("Version: %s\n", version.Version)
+			return nil
+		},
+	}
 )
 
 func main() {
+	cmdRoot.AddCommand(cmdVersion)
 	if err := cmdRoot.Execute(); err != nil {
 		fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, err)
 		os.Exit(1)
diff --git a/pkg/version/version.go b/pkg/version/version.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..df29d6a01
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/version/version.go
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+package version
+
+var Version string = "none"