diff --git a/release.py b/release.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..677a84dbcbc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/release.py
@@ -0,0 +1,96 @@
+"""
+Release script:
+
+Merges changes from default into stable and increments the version number according to input argument "major", "minor", "rev"
+"""
+
+import tempfile
+import shutil
+import sys
+import subprocess
+
+def editversionpy(filename, version):
+    f = open(filename, "w")
+    f.write('%s\n' % (version))
+    f.close()
+
+def get_version_tuple(filename):
+    import re
+    f = open(filename)
+    version = re.findall("(\d*\.\d*\.\d*)", f.read())[0]
+    parts = version.split(".")
+
+    return (int(parts[0]), int(parts[1]), int(parts[2]))
+
+def get_new_version_number(version_tuple, release_type):
+    major = version_tuple[0]
+    minor = version_tuple[1]
+    rev = version_tuple[2]
+
+    if release_type == "major":
+        major = major + 1
+        minor = 0
+        rev = 0
+    if release_type == "minor":
+        minor = minor + 1
+        rev = 0
+    if release_type == "rev":
+        rev = rev + 1
+
+    return (major, minor, rev)
+
+def to_string(v, after=''):
+    return "%s.%s.%s%s" % (v[0], v[1], v[2], after)
+
+def run_commands(cmds, release_type):
+    version_file = "VERSION"
+
+    versions = {}
+    release_version = None
+    next_version = None
+
+    for cmd in cmds:
+        print("running: %s" % cmd)
+        if cmd[0] == "editversionpy":
+            # increment the version from the version slot, using the release_type specified
+            next_version = get_new_version_number(versions[cmd[1]], cmd[2])
+            editversionpy(version_file, to_string(next_version, cmd[3]))
+        elif cmd[0] == "getversion":
+            # Store the version from the current version file into a named slot
+            versions[cmd[1]] = get_version_tuple(version_file)
+        elif cmd[0] == "commit":
+            note = cmd[1] % (to_string(next_version))
+            retcode = subprocess.call(["git", "commit", "-a", "-m", note])
+            if retcode:
+                sys.exit(retcode)
+        elif cmd[0] == "tag":
+            tag = "v%s" % (to_string(next_version))
+            retcode = subprocess.call(["git", "tag", tag])
+            if retcode:
+                sys.exit(retcode)
+        else:
+            retcode = subprocess.call(cmd)
+            if retcode:
+                sys.exit(retcode)
+
+def release(release_type):
+    cmds = [
+        ["git", "checkout", "stable"],
+        ["getversion", "stable"],
+        ["git", "merge", "master"],
+        ["editversionpy", "stable", release_type, ""],
+        ["tag"],
+        ["commit", "[RELEASE] v%s"],
+        ["getversion", "stable"],
+        ["git", "checkout", "master"],
+        ["git", "merge", "stable"],
+        ["editversionpy", "stable", "minor", "-dev"],
+        ["commit", "[VERSION] v%s-dev"],
+    ]
+
+    run_commands(cmds, release_type)
+
+if sys.argv[1] in ["major", "minor", "rev"]:
+    release(sys.argv[1])
+else:
+    print("Argument should be 'major', 'minor' or 'rev'")