diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index aa35cde..5ad8452 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -4,13 +4,43 @@ CMS encoders and decoders.
 
 ## Installation
 
-Dependencies:
+Installing a release is a lot easier than the git version.
 
-- [asn1c](https://github.com/vlm/asn1c) (Note: A relatively recent version is required. I'm currently using commit [88ed3b5](88ed3b5cf012918bc1084b606b0624c45e0d2191).)
+### Installing a release
+
+Requirements:
+
+- HTTP object retriever (`wget` exampled below)
+- tar
+- A C compiler
+
+Procedure:
+
+```
+wget https://github.com/NICMx/libcmscodec/releases/download/beta1/libcmscodec-beta1.tar.gz
+tar xvzf libcmscodec-beta1.tar.gz
+cd libcmscodec*
+./configure
+make
+sudo make install
+```
+
+### Installing the git version
+
+Requirements:
+
+- git
+- The autotools (in particular, autoconf must be 2.69 or newer)
+- [asn1c](https://github.com/vlm/asn1c) (Note: A relatively recent version is required. I'm currently using commit [88ed3b5](https://github.com/vlm/asn1c/tree/88ed3b5cf012918bc1084b606b0624c45e0d2191).)
+- A C compiler
+
+Procedure:
 
 ```
+git clone https://github.com/NICMx/libcmscodec.git
+cd libcmscodec/
 ./autogen.sh
 ./configure
 make
-make install
+sudo make install
 ```
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 8e55db9..ff95636 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 
 AC_PREREQ([2.69])
 # TODO change the bug report address
-AC_INIT([libcmscodec], [0.0.1], [ydahhrk@gmail.com])
+AC_INIT([libcmscodec], [beta1], [ydahhrk@gmail.com])
 AC_CONFIG_SRCDIR([src/libcmscodec/der_encoder.c])
 AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([subdir-objects])