diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index be18bc4..5271c99 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ r0c.egg-info/
 buildenv/
 build/
 dist/
+*.rst
 
 # sublime
 *.sublime-workspace
diff --git a/docs/pypi-publishing.sh b/docs/pypi-publishing.sh
index 126d11f..359ab43 100644
--- a/docs/pypi-publishing.sh
+++ b/docs/pypi-publishing.sh
@@ -24,12 +24,16 @@ cd ~/dev/r0c &&
 virtualenv buildenv
 
 # build and release
+function have() { python -c "import $1; $1; $1.__version__"; }
 deactivate;
 cd ~/dev/r0c &&
 rm -rf dist r0c.egg-info/ build/ MANIFEST* &&
 . buildenv/bin/activate &&
-python -c 'import setuptools; setuptools; setuptools.__version__' &&
-python -c 'import wheel; wheel; wheel.__version__' &&
+have setuptools &&
+have wheel &&
+have m2r &&
+./setup.py clean2 &&
+./setup.py rstconv &&
 ./setup.py sdist bdist_wheel --universal &&
 ./setup.py sdist upload -r pypi &&
 deactivate &&
diff --git a/scripts/make-release.sh b/scripts/make-release.sh
index 16601d3..46865b6 100755
--- a/scripts/make-release.sh
+++ b/scripts/make-release.sh
@@ -65,14 +65,22 @@ grep -qE "ADMIN_PWD *= *u'hunter2'" r0c/config.py ||
 	exit 1
 }
 
-bad=''
-grep -qE "^VERSION *= *u'$ver'" r0c/config.py || bad="$bad [config]"
-grep -qE "^__version__ *= *\"$ver\"" r0c/__main__.py || bad="$bad [main]"
+commaver="$(
+	printf '%s\n' "$ver" |
+	sed -r 's/\./,/g'
+)"
 
-[[ "x$bad" == "x" ]] ||
+grep -qE "^VERSION *= \(${commaver}\)$" r0c/__version__.py ||
 {
 	echo "$tmp"
-	echo "bad version in$bad"
+	echo "bad version"
+	echo
+	echo " arg: $commaver"
+	echo "code: $(
+		cat r0c/__version__.py |
+		grep -E '^VERSION'
+	)"
+	echo
 	echo "continue?"
 	read -u1
 }
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 7d9a961..28123c2 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -21,19 +21,23 @@ if 'bdist_wheel' in sys.argv and not setuptools_available:
 	print('cannot build wheel without setuptools')
 	sys.exit(1)
 
+def mglob(dirname, extensions):
+	ret = []
+	for ext in extensions:
+		ret.extend(glob(dirname + '/*.' + ext))
+	return ret
+
 
 NAME        = 'r0c'
 VERSION     = None
-
-
-manifest = ''
-data_files = [
-	('share/doc/r0c',         ['README.md','LICENSE']),
-	('share/doc/r0c/help',    glob('docs/*.md')),
+data_files  = [
+	('share/doc/r0c',         ['README.md','README.rst','LICENSE']),
+	('share/doc/r0c/help',    mglob('docs', ['md','rst'])),
 	('share/doc/r0c/clients', glob('clients/*'))
 ]
-
+manifest = ''
 for dontcare, files in data_files:
+	print(dontcare)
 	for fn in files:
 		manifest += "include {0}\n".format(fn)
 
@@ -42,8 +46,14 @@ here = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__))
 with open(here + '/MANIFEST.in', 'wb') as f:
 	f.write(manifest.encode('utf-8'))
 
-with open(here + '/README.md', 'rb') as f:
-	LONG_DESCRIPTION = '\n' + f.read().decode('utf-8')
+
+try:
+	LONG_DESCRIPTION = ''
+	with open(here + '/README.rst', 'rb') as f:
+		LONG_DESCRIPTION = '\n' + f.read().decode('utf-8')
+except:
+	print('\n### could not open README.rst ###\n')
+
 
 about = {}
 if not VERSION:
@@ -53,10 +63,75 @@ else:
 	about['__version__'] = VERSION
 
 
+class clean2(Command):
+	description = 'Cleans the source tree'
+	user_options = []
+	
+	def initialize_options(self):
+		pass
+	
+	def finalize_options(self):
+		pass
+	
+	def run(self):
+		os.system('{0} setup.py clean --all'.format(sys.executable))
+		
+		rmtree('./dist')
+		rmtree('./r0c.egg-info')
+		
+		nuke = []
+		for (dirpath, dirnames, filenames) in os.walk('.'):
+			for fn in filenames:
+				if fn.endswith('.rst') \
+				or fn.startswith('MANIFEST'):
+					nuke.append(dirpath + '/' + fn)
+		
+		for fn in nuke:
+			os.unlink(fn)
+
+
+class rstconv(Command):
+	description = 'Converts markdown to rst'
+	user_options = []
+	
+	def initialize_options(self):
+		pass
+	
+	def finalize_options(self):
+		pass
+	
+	def run(self):
+		self.proc_dir('.')
+		self.proc_dir('docs')
+	
+	def proc_dir(self, path):
+		import m2r
+		for (dirpath, dirnames, filenames) in os.walk(path):
+			
+			dirnames.sort()
+			for fn in sorted(filenames):
+				
+				fn = dirpath + '/' + fn
+				if not fn.endswith('.md'):
+					continue
+				
+				rst_fn = fn[:-3] + '.rst'
+				with open(fn, 'rb') as f:
+					md = f.read().decode('utf-8')
+				
+				for kw in ['docs','clients']:
+					md = md.replace('({0}/'.format(kw),
+						'(https://ocv.me/static/r0c/{0}/'.format(kw))
+				
+				rst = m2r.convert(md)
+				with open(rst_fn, 'wb') as f:
+					f.write(rst.encode('utf-8'))
+
+
 if False:
 	data_files = {}
 	for dest, src, masks in [
-		['share/doc/r0c/help',    'docs',    ['.md']],
+		['share/doc/r0c/help',    'docs',    ['.md','.rst']],
 		['share/doc/r0c/clients', 'clients', ['']]]:
 		
 		files = []
@@ -102,7 +177,11 @@ args = {
 		'Programming Language :: Python :: Implementation :: PyPy',
 		'Environment :: Console',
 		'Topic :: Communications :: Chat'
-	]
+	],
+	'cmdclass' : {
+		'rstconv': rstconv,
+		'clean2': clean2
+	}
 }