diff --git a/build/make-release.php b/build/make-release.php
index 610dbbe6d..4466e7b6f 100644
--- a/build/make-release.php
+++ b/build/make-release.php
@@ -36,11 +36,13 @@ use function fwrite;
 use function getopt;
 use function is_string;
 use function max;
+use function preg_match;
 use function preg_replace;
 use function sleep;
 use function sprintf;
 use function str_pad;
 use function strlen;
+use function strtolower;
 use function system;
 use const STDERR;
 use const STDIN;
@@ -102,22 +104,43 @@ function main() : void{
 		$filteredOpts[$optName] = $optValue;
 	}
 
+	$channel = $filteredOpts["channel"] ?? null;
 	if(isset($filteredOpts["current"])){
 		$currentVer = new VersionString($filteredOpts["current"]);
 	}else{
 		$currentVer = new VersionString(VersionInfo::BASE_VERSION);
 	}
-	if(isset($filteredOpts["next"])){
-		$nextVer = new VersionString($filteredOpts["next"]);
+
+	$nextVer = isset($filteredOpts["next"]) ? new VersionString($filteredOpts["next"]) : null;
+
+	$suffix = $currentVer->getSuffix();
+	if($suffix !== ""){
+		if($channel === "stable"){
+			fwrite(STDERR, "error: cannot release a suffixed build into the stable channel\n");
+			exit(1);
+		}
+		if(preg_match('/^([A-Za-z]+)(\d+)$/', $suffix, $matches) !== 1){
+			echo "error: invalid current version suffix \"$suffix\"; aborting\n";
+			exit(1);
+		}
+		$nextVer ??= new VersionString(sprintf(
+			"%u.%u.%u-%s%u",
+			$currentVer->getMajor(),
+			$currentVer->getMinor(),
+			$currentVer->getPatch(),
+			$matches[1],
+			((int) $matches[2]) + 1
+		));
+		$channel ??= strtolower($matches[1]);
 	}else{
-		$nextVer = new VersionString(sprintf(
+		$nextVer ??= new VersionString(sprintf(
 			"%u.%u.%u",
 			$currentVer->getMajor(),
 			$currentVer->getMinor(),
 			$currentVer->getPatch() + 1
 		));
+		$channel ??= "stable";
 	}
-	$channel = $filteredOpts["channel"] ?? VersionInfo::BUILD_CHANNEL;
 
 	echo "About to tag version $currentVer. Next version will be $nextVer.\n";
 	echo "$currentVer will be published on release channel \"$channel\".\n";