diff --git a/lib/voxpupuli-release/rake_tasks.rb b/lib/voxpupuli-release/rake_tasks.rb
index 8af2643..734d081 100644
--- a/lib/voxpupuli-release/rake_tasks.rb
+++ b/lib/voxpupuli-release/rake_tasks.rb
@@ -1,15 +1,35 @@
-require 'puppet_blacksmith/rake_tasks'
 
-Blacksmith::RakeTask.new do |t|
-  t.build = false # do not build the module nor push it to the Forge
-  # just do the tagging [:clean, :tag, :bump_commit]
-end
+desc 'release new version through Travis-ci'
+task "travis_release" do
+
+  require 'puppet_blacksmith/rake_tasks'
+  Blacksmith::RakeTask.new do |t|
+    t.build = false # do not build the module nor push it to the Forge
+    # just do the tagging [:clean, :tag, :bump_commit]
+  end
+
+  m = Blacksmith::Modulefile.new
+  v = m.version
+  raise "Refusing to release an RC or build-release (#{v}).\n" +
+        "Please set a semver *release* version." unless v =~ /^\d+\.\d+.\d+$/
 
-desc 'Offload release process to Travis.'
-task travis_release: [
-  :check_changelog,  # check that the changelog contains an entry for the current release
-  :"module:release", # do everything except build / push to forge, travis will do that for us
-]
+  Rake::Task[:check_changelog].invoke
+  # do a "manual" module:release (clean, tag, bump, commit, push tags)
+  Rake::Task["module:clean"].invoke
+
+  # idempotently create tags
+  g = Blacksmith::Git.new
+  Rake::Task["module:tag"].invoke unless g.exec_git("tag -l v#{v}").strip == "v#{v}"
+
+  v_inc = m.increase_version(v)
+  v_new = "#{v_inc}-rc0"
+  ENV['BLACKSMITH_FULL_VERSION'] = v_new
+  Rake::Task["module:bump:full"].invoke
+
+  # push it out, and let travis do the release:
+  g.commit_modulefile!(v_new)
+  g.push!
+end
 
 desc 'Check Changelog.'
 task :check_changelog do