diff --git a/board/main.c b/board/main.c
index 26213ba..4e162d5 100644
--- a/board/main.c
+++ b/board/main.c
@@ -207,7 +207,7 @@ int usb_cb_control_msg(USB_Setup_TypeDef *setup, uint8_t *resp, int hardwired) {
     case 0xd6:
       COMPILE_TIME_ASSERT(sizeof(gitversion) <= MAX_RESP_LEN)
       memcpy(resp, gitversion, sizeof(gitversion));
-      resp_len = sizeof(gitversion);
+      resp_len = sizeof(gitversion)-1;
       break;
     // **** 0xd8: reset ST
     case 0xd8:
diff --git a/release/flash_release.py b/release/flash_release.py
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..bfe5469
--- /dev/null
+++ b/release/flash_release.py
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+from __future__ import print_function
+import sys
+import time
+from panda import Panda, PandaDFU
+from panda.boardesp.tools.esptool import ESPROM, CesantaFlasher
+from zipfile import ZipFile
+
+def status(x):
+  print("\033[1;32;40m"+x+"\033[00m")
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+  zf = ZipFile(sys.argv[1])
+  zf.printdir()
+
+  version = zf.read("version")
+
+  code_bootstub = zf.read("bootstub.panda.bin")
+  code_panda = zf.read("panda.bin")
+
+  code_boot_15 = zf.read("boot_v1.5.bin")
+  code_boot_15 = code_boot_15[0:2] + "\x00\x30" + code_boot_15[4:]
+
+  code_user1 = zf.read("user1.bin")
+  code_user2 = zf.read("user2.bin")
+  
+  # look for Panda
+  st_serial = Panda.list()[0]
+
+  # enter DFU mode
+  status("1. Entering DFU mode")
+  panda = Panda(st_serial)
+  panda.enter_bootloader()
+  time.sleep(1)
+
+  # program bootstub
+  status("2. Programming bootstub")
+  dfu = PandaDFU(PandaDFU.st_serial_to_dfu_serial(st_serial))
+  dfu.clear_status()
+  dfu.erase(0x8004000)
+  dfu.erase(0x8000000)
+  dfu.program(0x8000000, code_bootstub, 0x800)
+  dfu.reset()
+  time.sleep(1)
+
+  # flash main code
+  status("3. Flashing main code")
+  panda = Panda(st_serial)
+  panda.flash(code=code_panda)
+  panda.close()
+  time.sleep(1)
+
+  # flashing ESP
+  status("4. Flashing ESP (slow!)")
+  align = lambda x, sz=0x1000: x+"\xFF"*((sz-len(x)) % sz)
+  esp = ESPROM(st_serial)
+  esp.connect()
+  flasher = CesantaFlasher(esp, 230400)
+  flasher.flash_write(0x0, align(code_boot_15), True)
+  flasher.flash_write(0x1000, align(code_user1), True)
+  flasher.flash_write(0x81000, align(code_user2), True)
+  flasher.flash_write(0x3FE000, "\xFF"*0x1000)
+  flasher.boot_fw()
+  del flasher
+  del esp
+  time.sleep(1)
+
+  # check for connection
+  status("5. Verifying version")
+  panda = Panda(st_serial)
+  my_version = panda.get_version()
+  print(my_version, "should be", version)
+  assert(str(version) == str(my_version))
+
+  # done!
+  status("6. Success!")
+  
+
diff --git a/release/make_release.sh b/release/make_release.sh
index 020e526..7be994c 100755
--- a/release/make_release.sh
+++ b/release/make_release.sh
@@ -29,11 +29,12 @@ mkdir obj
 make -f ../common/version.mk
 make obj/gitversion.h
 RELEASE_NAME=$(python -c "import sys;sys.stdout.write(open('obj/gitversion.h').read().split('\"')[1])")
+echo -en $RELEASE_NAME > /tmp/version
 rm -rf obj
 
 # make zip file
 pushd .
 cd ..
-zip -j release/panda-$RELEASE_NAME.zip ~/one/panda/board/obj/bootstub.panda.bin ~/one/panda/board/obj/panda.bin ~/one/panda/boardesp/user?.bin /tmp/version
+zip -j release/panda-$RELEASE_NAME.zip ~/one/panda/board/obj/bootstub.panda.bin ~/one/panda/board/obj/panda.bin ~/one/panda/boardesp/user?.bin ~/one/panda/boardesp/esp-open-sdk/ESP8266_NONOS_SDK_V1.5.4_16_05_20/bin/boot_v1.5.bin /tmp/version
 popd