diff --git a/RELEASE.md b/RELEASE.md
index 0503947d1..8034a178c 100644
--- a/RELEASE.md
+++ b/RELEASE.md
@@ -2,16 +2,19 @@
 
 1. Create a list of all the changes since the prior release
     1. Compare the latest release to master using https://github.com/octokit/octokit.rb/compare/`${latest}`...master
-    1. Open the linked pull requests from all the `Merge pull request #...` commits
-    1. For all non-documentation PRs, copy title (including pull request number) into markdown list items
-    1. (optional, but nice) Sort into logical buckets, like "support for additional endpoints", "enhancements", "bugfixes"
-    1. Reorganize to put the pull request number at the start of the line
-1. Ensure there are no breaking changes _(if there are breaking changes you'll need to create a release branch without those changes or bump the major version)_
-1. Update the version
+    2. Open the linked pull requests from all the `Merge pull request #...` commits
+    3. For all non-documentation PRs, copy title (including pull request number) into markdown list items
+    4. (optional, but nice) Sort into logical buckets, like "support for additional endpoints", "enhancements", "bugfixes"
+    5. Reorganize to put the pull request number at the start of the line
+2. Ensure there are no breaking changes _(if there are breaking changes you'll need to create a release branch without those changes or bump the major version)_
+3. Update the version
     1. Update the constant in `lib/octokit/version.rb`
-    1. Commit and push directly to master
-1. Run the `script/release` script to cut a release
-1. Draft a new release at https://github.com/octokit/octokit.rb/releases/new containing the curated changelog
+    2. Commit the version change and push directly to master
+4. (Optional) Run `script/release` with no parameters to execute a dry run of a release
+5. Run the `script/release -r` script to cut a release (this will run `script/validate` to perform the permission check)
+6. Draft a new release at https://github.com/octokit/octokit.rb/releases/new containing the curated changelog
+
+----
 
 ## Prerequisites
 
diff --git a/script/package b/script/package
index 926f4891b..7a9b50c6c 100755
--- a/script/package
+++ b/script/package
@@ -4,4 +4,15 @@
 
 mkdir -p pkg
 gem build *.gemspec
-mv *.gem pkg
+
+./script/validate || rm *.gem
+
+echo "*** Packing and moving the octokit gem ***"
+if [ -f *.gem ]; then
+  mv *.gem pkg
+  echo -e '☑ success'
+else
+  echo -e '☒ failure'
+  exit 1
+fi
+
diff --git a/script/release b/script/release
index 6dcd8cb3f..b6421f9eb 100755
--- a/script/release
+++ b/script/release
@@ -5,12 +5,49 @@
 
 set -e
 
-version="$(script/package | grep Version: | awk '{print $2}')"
-[ -n "$version" ] || exit 1
-
-echo $version
-git commit --allow-empty -a -m "Release $version"
-git tag "v$version"
-git push origin
-git push origin "v$version"
-gem push pkg/*-${version}.gem
+usage() { 
+  echo "Usage: $0 [-r] Tags and releases/publishes octokit" 1>&2; exit 1; 
+}
+
+while [ $# -gt 0 ]
+do
+    case $1 in
+        '-r')
+            r=true
+            ;;
+        '-h')
+            usage
+            ;;
+        *)
+            echo "No valid parameter passed in, performing a dry run...";
+            ;;
+    esac
+    shift
+done
+
+if [ -z "${r}" ]; then
+  ./script/package
+    echo "*** Dry run: octokit was not tagged or released ***"
+    echo -e '☑ success'
+else
+
+  # We execite the script separately to get logging and proper exit conditions
+  ./script/package
+
+  # We need to pull the version from the actual file that is about to be published
+  file=$(ls pkg/*.gem| head -1)
+  version=$(echo $file | sed -e 's/.*octokit-\(.*\).gem.*/\1/') 
+  
+  [ -n "$version" ] || exit 1
+
+  echo "*** Tagging and publishing $version of octokit ***"
+
+  git commit --allow-empty -a -m "Release $version"
+  git tag "v$version"
+  git push origin
+  git push origin "v$version"
+  gem push pkg/*-${version}.gem
+  echo -e '☑ success'
+fi
+
+
diff --git a/script/validate b/script/validate
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..4bec0edb4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/script/validate
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Usage: script/gem
+# Validates the packed gem to determine if file permissions are correct.
+
+<<'###SCRIPT_COMMENT'
+Purpose: 
+(Given octokit.rb is currently shipped "manually")
+
+Because different environments behave differently, it is recommended that the integrity and file permissions of the files packed in the gem are verified.
+This is to help prevent things like releasing world writeable files in the gem. The simple check below looks at each file contained in the packed gem and
+verifies that the files are only owner writeable.
+
+Requirements:
+This script expects that script/package, script/release or 'gem build *.gemspec' have been run
+
+###SCRIPT_COMMENT
+
+
+FILE=$(ls *.gem| head -1)
+
+echo "*** Validating file permissions in the octokit gem ***"
+
+if [ ! -f "$FILE" ]; then
+    echo "$FILE does not exist. Please run script/package, script/release or 'gem build *.gemspec' to generate the gem to be validated"
+    echo -e '☒ failure'
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+tar -xf "${FILE}"
+
+# naive check to quickly see if any files in the gem are set to the wrong permissions
+for f in $(tar --numeric-owner -tvf data.tar.gz )
+do
+  if [ $f == "-rw-rw-rw-" ]; then
+     echo "World writeable files (-rw-rw-rw- | 666) detected in the gem. Please repack and make sure that all files in the gem are owner read write ( -rw-r--r-- | 644 )"
+     echo -e '☒ failure'
+     rm -f checksums.yaml.gz data.tar.gz metadata.gz
+     exit 1
+  fi
+done
+
+# Check clean up
+echo -e '☑ success'
+rm -f checksums.yaml.gz data.tar.gz metadata.gz
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