diff --git a/scripts/release.sh b/scripts/release.sh
index 9bd1b2b950..5a5b5a6498 100755
--- a/scripts/release.sh
+++ b/scripts/release.sh
@@ -17,16 +17,18 @@ set -e
 set -u
 set -o pipefail
 
+__sed=$( [ "$(uname)" = Darwin ] && echo 'sed -E' || echo 'sed -r' )
+
 cd "$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)"
 
 __LAST_TAG=$(git describe --abbrev=0)
 [ -z "$__LAST_TAG" ] && { echo 'ERROR: no tag found'; exit 1; }
 __VERSION_MAJOR=$(grep 'set(NVIM_VERSION_MAJOR' CMakeLists.txt\
-  |sed -r 's/.*NVIM_VERSION_MAJOR ([[:digit:]]).*/\1/')
+  |$__sed 's/.*NVIM_VERSION_MAJOR ([[:digit:]]).*/\1/')
 __VERSION_MINOR=$(grep 'set(NVIM_VERSION_MINOR' CMakeLists.txt\
-  |sed -r 's/.*NVIM_VERSION_MINOR ([[:digit:]]).*/\1/')
+  |$__sed 's/.*NVIM_VERSION_MINOR ([[:digit:]]).*/\1/')
 __VERSION_PATCH=$(grep 'set(NVIM_VERSION_PATCH' CMakeLists.txt\
-  |sed -r 's/.*NVIM_VERSION_PATCH ([[:digit:]]).*/\1/')
+  |$__sed 's/.*NVIM_VERSION_PATCH ([[:digit:]]).*/\1/')
 __VERSION="${__VERSION_MAJOR}.${__VERSION_MINOR}.${__VERSION_PATCH}"
 { [ -z "$__VERSION_MAJOR" ] || [ -z "$__VERSION_MINOR" ] || [ -z "$__VERSION_PATCH" ]; } \
   &&  { echo "ERROR: version parse failed: '${__VERSION}'"; exit 1; }
@@ -43,16 +45,16 @@ __BUMP_MSG="version bump"
 
 echo "Most recent tag: ${__LAST_TAG}"
 echo "Release version: ${__VERSION}"
-sed -i -r 's/(NVIM_VERSION_PRERELEASE) "-dev"/\1 ""/' CMakeLists.txt
+$__sed -i.bk 's/(NVIM_VERSION_PRERELEASE) "-dev"/\1 ""/' CMakeLists.txt
 echo "Building changelog since ${__LAST_TAG}..."
 __CHANGELOG="$(./scripts/git-log-pretty-since.sh "$__LAST_TAG" 'vim-patch:\S')"
 
 git add CMakeLists.txt
 git commit --edit -m "${__RELEASE_MSG} ${__CHANGELOG}"
-git tag -a v"${__VERSION}" -m "NVIM v${__VERSION}"
+git tag --sign -a v"${__VERSION}" -m "NVIM v${__VERSION}"
 
-sed -i -r 's/(NVIM_VERSION_PRERELEASE) ""/\1 "-dev"/' CMakeLists.txt
-sed -i -r 's/set\((NVIM_VERSION_PATCH) [[:digit:]]/set(\1 ?/' CMakeLists.txt
+$__sed -i.bk 's/(NVIM_VERSION_PRERELEASE) ""/\1 "-dev"/' CMakeLists.txt
+$__sed -i.bk 's/set\((NVIM_VERSION_PATCH) [[:digit:]]/set(\1 ?/' CMakeLists.txt
 nvim +'/NVIM_VERSION' +10new +'exe "norm! iUpdate version numbers!!!\<CR>"' \
   +'norm! 10.' CMakeLists.txt