diff --git a/makesure b/makesure
index 7afc024..402f0aa 100755
--- a/makesure
+++ b/makesure
@@ -493,18 +493,17 @@ function currentTimeMillis(res){
  res=executeGetLine("date +%s%3N")
  sub(/%?3N/,"000",res)
  return +res}
-function selfUpdate(tmp,err,newVer,line,sha){
+function selfUpdate(tmp,err,newVer,line,ver){
  tmp=executeGetLine("mktemp /tmp/makesure_new.XXXXXXXXXX")
- err=dl("https://api.github.com/repos/xonixx/makesure/commits?per_page=1",tmp)
+ err=dl("https://github.com/xonixx/makesure/releases",tmp)
  if(!err){
   while(getline line<tmp){
-   if(line~/"sha":/){
-    if(match(line=substr(line,index(line,"\"sha\":")+6),/"[a-z0-9]+"/))
-     sha=substr(line,RSTART+1,RLENGTH-2)
+   if(match(line,/\/xonixx\/makesure\/releases\/tag\/v[0-9.]+/)){
+    ver=substr(line=substr(line,RSTART,RLENGTH),index(line,"/v")+1)
     break}}
-  if(!sha)err="unable to get the latest commit"
+  if(!ver)err="unable to get the latest release"
   if(!err){
-   err=dl("https://raw.githubusercontent.com/xonixx/makesure/"sha"/makesure",tmp)
+   err=dl("https://raw.githubusercontent.com/xonixx/makesure/"ver"/makesure",tmp)
    if(!err&&!ok("chmod +x "tmp))err="can'\''t chmod +x "tmp
    if(!err){
     newVer=executeGetLine(tmp" -v")
diff --git a/makesure.awk b/makesure.awk
index a6aaa0e..87640c9 100755
--- a/makesure.awk
+++ b/makesure.awk
@@ -720,22 +720,21 @@ function currentTimeMillis(   res) {
   return +res
 }
 
-function selfUpdate(   tmp, err, newVer,line,sha) {
+function selfUpdate(   tmp, err, newVer,line,ver) {
   tmp = executeGetLine("mktemp /tmp/makesure_new.XXXXXXXXXX")
-  # first get the last commit hash
-  err = dl("https://api.github.com/repos/xonixx/makesure/commits?per_page=1", tmp)
+  # first get the last release version
+  err = dl("https://github.com/xonixx/makesure/releases", tmp)
   if (!err) {
     while (getline line < tmp) {
-      if (line ~ /"sha":/) {
-        if (match(line = substr(line, index(line, "\"sha\":") + 6), /"[a-z0-9]+"/))
-          sha = substr(line, RSTART + 1, RLENGTH - 2)
+      if (match(line, /\/xonixx\/makesure\/releases\/tag\/v[0-9.]+/)) {
+        ver = substr(line = substr(line, RSTART, RLENGTH), index(line, "/v") + 1) # v0.9.23
         break
       }
     }
-    if (!sha) err = "unable to get the latest commit"
+    if (!ver) err = "unable to get the latest release"
     if (!err) {
       # now download the latest executable
-      err = dl("https://raw.githubusercontent.com/xonixx/makesure/" sha "/makesure", tmp)
+      err = dl("https://raw.githubusercontent.com/xonixx/makesure/" ver "/makesure", tmp)
       if (!err && !ok("chmod +x " tmp)) err = "can't chmod +x " tmp
       if (!err) {
         newVer = executeGetLine(tmp " -v")
diff --git a/makesure_candidate b/makesure_candidate
index 7afc024..402f0aa 100755
--- a/makesure_candidate
+++ b/makesure_candidate
@@ -493,18 +493,17 @@ function currentTimeMillis(res){
  res=executeGetLine("date +%s%3N")
  sub(/%?3N/,"000",res)
  return +res}
-function selfUpdate(tmp,err,newVer,line,sha){
+function selfUpdate(tmp,err,newVer,line,ver){
  tmp=executeGetLine("mktemp /tmp/makesure_new.XXXXXXXXXX")
- err=dl("https://api.github.com/repos/xonixx/makesure/commits?per_page=1",tmp)
+ err=dl("https://github.com/xonixx/makesure/releases",tmp)
  if(!err){
   while(getline line<tmp){
-   if(line~/"sha":/){
-    if(match(line=substr(line,index(line,"\"sha\":")+6),/"[a-z0-9]+"/))
-     sha=substr(line,RSTART+1,RLENGTH-2)
+   if(match(line,/\/xonixx\/makesure\/releases\/tag\/v[0-9.]+/)){
+    ver=substr(line=substr(line,RSTART,RLENGTH),index(line,"/v")+1)
     break}}
-  if(!sha)err="unable to get the latest commit"
+  if(!ver)err="unable to get the latest release"
   if(!err){
-   err=dl("https://raw.githubusercontent.com/xonixx/makesure/"sha"/makesure",tmp)
+   err=dl("https://raw.githubusercontent.com/xonixx/makesure/"ver"/makesure",tmp)
    if(!err&&!ok("chmod +x "tmp))err="can'\''t chmod +x "tmp
    if(!err){
     newVer=executeGetLine(tmp" -v")