diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index d9a5081d255..3307a3850f8 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -27,3 +27,6 @@ site/public/
 site/resources/
 site/.hugo_build.lock
 **/node_modules/
+
+# goreleaser artifacts
+**/dist/
diff --git a/releasing/README.md b/releasing/README.md
index 38418f674a6..cfcef544b2b 100644
--- a/releasing/README.md
+++ b/releasing/README.md
@@ -141,7 +141,7 @@ go mod edit -require=sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/kyaml@$versionKyaml plugin/builtin/pa
 
 Create the PR:
 ```
-createBranch pinToKyaml "Pin to kyaml $versionKyaml"
+createBranch pinToKyaml "Update kyaml to $versionKyaml"
 ```
 ```
 createPr
@@ -201,7 +201,7 @@ gorepomod pin cmd/config --doIt
 
 Create the PR:
 ```
-createBranch pinToCmdConfig "Pin to cmd/config $versionCmdConfig" &&
+createBranch pinToCmdConfig "Update cmd/config to $versionCmdConfig" &&
 createPr
 ```
 
@@ -256,7 +256,7 @@ gorepomod pin api --doIt
 
 Create the PR:
 ```
-createBranch pinToApi "Pin to api $versionApi" &&
+createBranch pinToApi "Update api to $versionApi" &&
 createPr
 ```
 
@@ -383,7 +383,7 @@ Image sha256 can be found in the image registry in the GCP
 project [k8s-staging-kustomize].
 
 Commit and push your changes. Then create a PR to [k8s.io] to promote
-new images. Assign the PR to @monopole and @Shell32-natsu.
+the new image.
 
 ## Update kustomize-in-kubectl
 
diff --git a/releasing/cloudbuild.sh b/releasing/cloudbuild.sh
index ce73e6b45a8..8e2f1e10d4f 100755
--- a/releasing/cloudbuild.sh
+++ b/releasing/cloudbuild.sh
@@ -24,108 +24,5 @@ set -x
 
 fullTag=$1
 shift
-echo "fullTag=$fullTag"
 
-remainingArgs="$@"
-echo "Remaining args:  $remainingArgs"
-
-# Take everything before the last slash.
-# This is expected to match $module.
-module=${fullTag%/*}
-echo "module=$module"
-
-# Find previous tag that matches the tags module
-prevTag=$(git tag -l "$module*" --sort=-version:refname --no-contains=$fullTag | head -n 1)
-
-# Generate the changelog for this release
-# using the last two tags for the module
-changeLogFile=$(mktemp)
-git log $prevTag..$fullTag \
-  --pretty=oneline \
-  --abbrev-commit --no-decorate --no-color --no-merges \
-  -- $module > $changeLogFile
-echo "Release notes:"
-cat $changeLogFile
-
-# Take everything after the last slash.
-# This should be something like "v1.2.3".
-semVer=`echo $fullTag | sed "s|$module/||"`
-echo "semVer=$semVer"
-
-# This is probably a directory called /workspace
-echo "pwd = $PWD"
-
-# Sanity check
-echo "### ls -las . ################################"
-ls -las .
-echo "###################################"
-
-
-# CD into the module directory.
-# This directory expected to contain a main.go, so there's
-# no need for extra details in the `build` stanza below.
-cd $module
-
-skipBuild=true
-if [[ "$module" == "kustomize" || "$module" == "pluginator" ]]; then
-  # If releasing a main program, don't skip the build.
-  skipBuild=false
-fi
-
-goReleaserConfigFile=$(mktemp)
-
-cat <<EOF >$goReleaserConfigFile
-project_name: $module
-
-archives:
-- name_template: "${module}_${semVer}_{{ .Os }}_{{ .Arch }}"
-
-builds:
-- skip: $skipBuild
-
-  ldflags: >
-    -s
-    -X sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/api/provenance.version={{.Version}}
-    -X sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/api/provenance.gitCommit={{.Commit}}
-    -X sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/api/provenance.buildDate={{.Date}}
-
-  goos:
-  - linux
-  - darwin
-  - windows
-
-  goarch:
-  - amd64
-  - arm64
-  - s390x
-  - ppc64le
-
-checksum:
-  name_template: 'checksums.txt'
-
-env:
-- CGO_ENABLED=0
-- GO111MODULE=on
-
-release:
-  github:
-    owner: kubernetes-sigs
-    name: kustomize
-  draft: true
-
-EOF
-
-cat $goReleaserConfigFile
-
-date
-
-time /usr/local/bin/goreleaser release \
-  --debug \
-  --timeout 10m \
-  --parallelism 7 \
-  --config=$goReleaserConfigFile \
-  --release-notes=$changeLogFile \
-  --rm-dist \
-  --skip-validate $remainingArgs
-
-date
+./releasing/run-goreleaser.sh "$fullTag" release "$@"
diff --git a/releasing/cloudbuild.yaml b/releasing/cloudbuild.yaml
index f22d9b18a28..55ab7466229 100644
--- a/releasing/cloudbuild.yaml
+++ b/releasing/cloudbuild.yaml
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ steps:
 
 # Run goreleaser indirectly via a shell script
 # to configure it properly.
-- name: goreleaser/goreleaser:v0.172.1
+- name: goreleaser/goreleaser:v0.179.0
   timeout: 12m
   entrypoint: /bin/sh
   dir: myClone
diff --git a/releasing/compile-changelog.sh b/releasing/compile-changelog.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..e79b9269688
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasing/compile-changelog.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+#
+# Builds a PR-oriented changelog from the git history for the given module.
+#
+# Usage (from top of repo):
+#
+#  releasing/compile-changelog.sh MODULE TAG CHANGE_LOG_FILE
+#
+# Where TAG is in the form
+#
+#   api/v1.2.3
+#   kustomize/v1.2.3
+#   cmd/config/v1.2.3
+#   ... etc.
+#
+
+set -o errexit
+set -o nounset
+set -o pipefail
+
+if [[ -z "${1-}" ]] || [[ -z "${2-}" ]] || [[ -z "${3-}" ]]; then
+  echo "Usage: $0 <module> <fullTag> <changeLogFile>"
+  echo "Example: $0 kyaml kyaml/v0.13.4 changelog.txt"
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+module=$1
+fullTag=$2
+changeLogFile=$3
+
+# Find previous tag that matches the tags module
+prevTag=$(git tag -l "$module*" --sort=-version:refname --no-contains="$fullTag" | head -n 1)
+
+commits=( $(git log "$prevTag".."$fullTag" \
+  --pretty=format:'%H' \
+  --abbrev-commit --no-decorate --no-color --no-merges \
+  -- "$module") )
+
+# There is a 256 character limit on the query parameter for the GitHub API, so split into batches then deduplicate results
+batchSize=5
+results=""
+for((i=0; i < ${#commits[@]}; i+=batchSize))
+do
+  commitList=$(IFS="+"; echo "${commits[@]:i:batchSize}" | sed 's/ /+/g')
+  if newResults=$(curl -sSL "https://api.github.com/search/issues?q=$commitList+repo%3Akubernetes-sigs%2Fkustomize" | jq -r '[  .items[] |  { number, title } ]'); then
+    results=$(echo "$results" "$newResults" | jq -s '.[0] + .[1] | unique')
+  else
+    echo "Failed to fetch results for commits: $commitList"
+    exit 1
+  fi
+done
+
+echo "${results}" | jq -r '.[] | select( .title | startswith("Back to development mode") | not) | "#\(.number): \(.title)" ' > "$changeLogFile"
diff --git a/releasing/localbuild.sh b/releasing/run-goreleaser.sh
similarity index 57%
rename from releasing/localbuild.sh
rename to releasing/run-goreleaser.sh
index 02bb7bbf1ba..328f1c616b4 100755
--- a/releasing/localbuild.sh
+++ b/releasing/run-goreleaser.sh
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 #
-# Works exactly like cloudbuild.sh but doesn't perform a release.
+# Builds and optionally releases the specified module
 #
 # Usage (from top of repo):
 #
-#  releasing/localbuild.sh TAG [--snapshot]
+#  releasing/localbuild.sh TAG MODE[build|release] [--snapshot]
 #
 # Where TAG is in the form
 #
@@ -13,56 +13,70 @@
 #   cmd/config/v1.2.3
 #   ... etc.
 #
-# This script runs a build through goreleaser (http://goreleaser.com) but nothing else.
-#
 
-set -e
-set -x
+set -o errexit
+set -o nounset
+set -o pipefail
+
+if [[ -z "${1-}" || -z "${2-}" ]]; then
+  echo "Usage: $0 TAG MODE [goreleaser flags]"
+  echo "  TAG: the tag to build or release, e.g. api/v1.2.3"
+  echo "  MODE: build or release"
+  exit 1
+fi
 
 fullTag=$1
 shift
 echo "fullTag=$fullTag"
 
+if [[ $1 == "release" || $1 == "build" ]]; then
+  mode=$1
+  shift
+else
+  echo "Error: mode must be build or release"
+  exit 1
+fi
+
 remainingArgs="$@"
-echo "Remaining args:  $remainingArgs"
+echo "Remaining args: $remainingArgs"
 
 # Take everything before the last slash.
 # This is expected to match $module.
 module=${fullTag%/*}
 echo "module=$module"
 
-# Find previous tag that matches the tags module
-prevTag=$(git tag -l "$module*" --sort=-version:refname --no-contains=$fullTag | head -n 1)
+# Take everything after the last slash.
+# This should be something like "v1.2.3".
+semVer=${fullTag#$module/}
+echo "semVer=$semVer"
 
 # Generate the changelog for this release
 # using the last two tags for the module
 changeLogFile=$(mktemp)
-git log $prevTag..$fullTag \
-  --pretty=oneline \
-  --abbrev-commit --no-decorate --no-color --no-merges \
-  -- $module > $changeLogFile
-echo "Release notes:"
-cat $changeLogFile
-
-# Take everything after the last slash.
-# This should be something like "v1.2.3".
-semVer=`echo $fullTag | sed "s|$module/||"`
-echo "semVer=$semVer"
+./releasing/compile-changelog.sh "$module" "$fullTag" "$changeLogFile"
+echo
+echo "######### Release notes: ##########"
+cat "$changeLogFile"
+echo "###################################"
+echo
 
 # This is probably a directory called /workspace
-echo "pwd = $PWD"
 
 # Sanity check
-echo "### ls -las . ################################"
+echo
+echo "############ DEBUG ##############"
+echo "pwd = $PWD"
+echo "ls -las ."
 ls -las .
 echo "###################################"
-
+echo
 
 # CD into the module directory.
 # This directory expected to contain a main.go, so there's
 # no need for extra details in the `build` stanza below.
 cd $module
 
+# This is used in goreleaser.yaml
 skipBuild=true
 if [[ "$module" == "kustomize" || "$module" == "pluginator" ]]; then
   # If releasing a main program, don't skip the build.
@@ -112,16 +126,26 @@ release:
 
 EOF
 
-cat $goReleaserConfigFile
+echo
+echo "############# CONFIG ##############"
+cat "$goReleaserConfigFile"
+echo "###################################"
+echo
+
+args=(
+  --debug
+  --timeout 10m
+  --parallelism 7
+  --config="$goReleaserConfigFile"
+  --rm-dist
+  --skip-validate
+)
+if [[ $mode == "release" ]]; then
+  args+=(--release-notes="$changeLogFile")
+fi
 
 date
-
-time /usr/local/bin/goreleaser build \
-  --debug \
-  --timeout 10m \
-  --parallelism 7 \
-  --config=$goReleaserConfigFile \
-  --rm-dist \
-  --skip-validate $remainingArgs
-
+export PATH="/usr/local/bin:$PATH"
+set -x
+time goreleaser "$mode" "${args[@]}" $remainingArgs
 date