diff --git a/git-make-release.sh b/git-make-release.sh
index 9337bd0..e3c858a 100755
--- a/git-make-release.sh
+++ b/git-make-release.sh
@@ -68,6 +68,12 @@ for param in $4 $5 $6; do
   fi
 done
 
+#check for release tag 
+if [ -z $3 ]; then 
+	echo "Release tag not set";
+	exit 1;
+fi 
+
 if [ $NOISY ] ; then echo "make-release $1 $2 $3 $4 $5 $6" ; fi
 if [ $DEBUG ] ; then echo "************found ini file: $inifilename" ; fi
 # Make this null if you want lots of output. Still quite a bit anyway