diff --git a/utils/release-checklist b/utils/release-checklist
index f18c20710..cf3808e09 100644
--- a/utils/release-checklist
+++ b/utils/release-checklist
@@ -1,9 +1,8 @@
 Release checklist
 =================
 
-* open https://travis-ci.org/sphinx-doc/sphinx/branches and check stable branch is green
-* Check `git status`
-* Run `make style-check`
+* open https://travis-ci.org/sphinx-doc/sphinx/branches and check **X.Y** branch is green
+* Run `git status` and check nothing changed
 * Update sphinx/locale/sphinx.pot if first major release (beta1)
 
   * Run `python setup.py extract_messages`
@@ -13,26 +12,26 @@ Release checklist
 
   * Run `(cd sphinx/locale; tx pull -a -f)`
   * Run `python setup.py compile_catalog`
-  * Run `git add sphinx`
   * Run `git commit -am 'Update message catalogs'`
 
-* `python utils/bump_version.py x.y.z`
+* `python utils/bump_version.py X.Y.Z`
 * Check diff by `git diff`
-* `git commit -am 'Bump to x.y.z final'`
+* Edit CHANGES if empty section exists
+* `git commit -am 'Bump to X.Y.Z final'`
 * `make clean`
 * `python setup.py release bdist_wheel sdist upload --identity=[your key]`
 * open https://pypi.python.org/pypi/Sphinx and check there are no obvious errors
-* `git tag x.y.z` with version number
-* Merge default into stable if final major release
-* `git push origin stable --tags`
+* `git tag vX.Y.Z` with version number
+* Merge default into X.Y branch if final major release
+* `git push origin X.Y --tags`
 * open https://readthedocs.org/dashboard/sphinx/versions/ and enable the released version
 * Add new version/milestone to tracker categories
-* `python utils/bump_version.py --in-develop a.b.cb0` (ex. 1.5.3b0)
+* `python utils/bump_version.py --in-develop X.Y.Zb0` (ex. 1.5.3b0)
 * Check diff by `git diff`
 * `git commit -am 'Bump version'`
-* `git push origin stable`
+* `git push origin X.Y`
 * `git checkout master`
-* `git merge stable`
+* `git merge X.Y`
 * `git push origin master`
 * Update `sphinx-doc-translations <https://github.com/sphinx-doc/sphinx-doc-translations>`_
 * Write announcement and send to sphinx-dev, sphinx-users and python-announce