diff --git a/release.sh b/release.sh
index f9a08a894..8ae3bae32 100755
--- a/release.sh
+++ b/release.sh
@@ -10,7 +10,8 @@ abort 1 "Please git-add your changes to $PKGDIR_REL before running"
 
 RELBRANCH="pending-$PKGNAME"
 git fetch origin --prune
-case "$(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD)" in
+PREVBRANCH="$(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD)"
+case "$PREVBRANCH" in
 pending-$PKGNAME)	true;;
 pending-*)	abort 1 "You are on a pending-release branch for a package other than $PKGNAME, $0 can only be run on another branch, like master";;
 *)	if git rev-parse -q --verify "refs/heads/$RELBRANCH" >/dev/null || \
@@ -22,8 +23,8 @@ pending-*)	abort 1 "You are on a pending-release branch for a package other than
 esac
 
 if head -n1 "$PKGDIR/debian/changelog" | grep -qv UNRELEASED-FIXME-AUTOGENERATED-DEBCARGO; then
-	git checkout master
-	abort 0 "Package already released. If that was a mistake then checkout another branch, delete this one ($RELBRANCH), and re-run this script ($0 $*)"
+	git checkout "$PREVBRANCH"
+	abort 0 "Package already released. If that was a mistake then run \`git branch -D $RELBRANCH\`, and re-run this script ($0 $*)"
 fi
 
 ( cd "$PKGDIR"