diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 277c54466..c156f215a 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -19,11 +19,8 @@ shell-check:
 VERSION:
 	tools/version.sh
 
-bump-python-version: VERSION
-	tools/bump-python-version.sh
-
 .PHONY: tarball
-tarball: VERSION bump-python-version
+tarball: VERSION
 	$(MAKE) -C legacy build
 	cd .. && tar -czf libretime-$(shell cat VERSION | tr -d [:blank:]).tar.gz \
 		--owner=root --group=root \
diff --git a/docs/developer-manual/development/releases.md b/docs/developer-manual/development/releases.md
index d0b3998af..ce88f750c 100644
--- a/docs/developer-manual/development/releases.md
+++ b/docs/developer-manual/development/releases.md
@@ -58,7 +58,8 @@ Create a new `release-$VERSION` branch and release commit to prepare a release p
 
 ```bash
 git checkout -b "release-$VERSION"
-git commit --allow-empty "chore: release $VERSION"
+export COMMIT_MESSAGE="chore: release $VERSION"
+git commit --allow-empty "$COMMIT_MESSAGE"
 ```
 
 ### 1. Version bump
@@ -66,11 +67,10 @@ git commit --allow-empty "chore: release $VERSION"
 Write the new `$VERSION` to the VERSION file, and bump the python packages version:
 
 ```bash
-echo $VERSION > VERSION
-bash tools/bump-python-version.sh
+bash tools/bump-python-version.sh "$VERSION"
 
 git add .
-git commit --fixup ":/chore: release $VERSION"
+git commit --fixup ":/$COMMIT_MESSAGE"
 ```
 
 ### 2. Release note
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ Commit the release note changes:
 
 ```bash
 git add .
-git commit --fixup ':/chore: release'
+git commit --fixup ":/$COMMIT_MESSAGE"
 ```
 
 ### 3. Website and docs
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ Commit the website and docs changes:
 
 ```bash
 git add .
-git commit --fixup ':/chore: release'
+git commit --fixup ":/$COMMIT_MESSAGE"
 ```
 
 ### 4. Create a new pull request
diff --git a/tools/bump-python-version.sh b/tools/bump-python-version.sh
index 763fb0423..c4fe3bed1 100755
--- a/tools/bump-python-version.sh
+++ b/tools/bump-python-version.sh
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ error() {
 
 command -v sed > /dev/null || error "sed command not found!"
 
-version="$(cat VERSION)"
+version="$1"
 
 for setup_path in */setup.py; do
   sed --in-place \