diff --git a/bin/release.sh b/bin/release.sh
index 9d4a85199..feb34c4ac 100755
--- a/bin/release.sh
+++ b/bin/release.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
-# 
+#
+
+git reset --hard
+git submodule update --init
+git status -s | grep "." && ( echo "Contains unknown files" ; exit 1 )
+
 if [ "$1" = "release" ] ; then
     sed -i -e 's/FINAL=False/FINAL=True/g' packstack/version.py
     SNAPTAG=""