diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-process.yml b/.github/workflows/release-process.yml
index 665865e848..c9bc387f52 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-process.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-process.yml
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Bump major version number
         run: |
+          set -ex
           # Push the current contents of `main` to a new release branch
           cur=$(./ci/print-current-version.sh)
           git push origin HEAD:release-$cur
@@ -104,15 +105,17 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Perform latest release
         run: |
+          set -ex
           git fetch origin
-          cur=$(git for-each-ref --sort=-committerdate refs/remotes/origin --format '%(refname)' | grep release | head -n 1 | sed 's/.*release-//')
 
-          # Update the release date for $cur on the `main` branch. Note that the
-          # sed here is a little complicated because we will have two entries in
-          # `RELEASES.md`, one for $cur+1 which `main` is at plus one for $cur
-          # which we're about to release. We only want to update the release
-          # date of the second one.
-          sed -i "/^##.*$cur/,+3 s/^Unreleased/Released $(date +'%Y-%m-%d')/" RELEASES.md
+          # Determine the latest release branch
+          rustc ci/find-latest-release.rs -o /tmp/find-latest-release
+          cur=`/tmp/find-latest-release`
+
+          # Update the release date of $cur in RELEASES.md
+          rustc ci/update-release-date.rs -o /tmp/update-release-date
+          /tmp/update-release-date $(date +'%Y-%m-%d')
+
           git commit -a -F-<<EOF
           Update release date of Wasmtime $cur
 
@@ -183,6 +186,7 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Bump and release patch version number
         run: |
+          set -ex
           # Update version numbers on a patch basis and update RELEASES.md if a
           # patch release marker is already in there. Note that this commit
           # message indicates that on-merge a release will be made.
@@ -222,6 +226,7 @@ jobs:
         # become a json-encoded string literal to send to GitHub. This
         # represents my best attempt.
         run: |
+          set -ex
           body=$(jq -sR < ./pr-body)
 
           curl --include --request POST \
diff --git a/ci/find-latest-release.rs b/ci/find-latest-release.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..00644245e5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ci/find-latest-release.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+use std::process::Command;
+fn main() {
+    let output = Command::new("git")
+        .arg("for-each-ref")
+        .arg("refs/remotes/origin")
+        .arg("--format")
+        .arg("%(refname)")
+        .output()
+        .unwrap();
+    assert!(output.status.success());
+    let mut releases = std::str::from_utf8(&output.stdout)
+        .unwrap()
+        .lines()
+        .filter_map(|l| l.strip_prefix("refs/remotes/origin/release-"))
+        .filter_map(|l| {
+            let mut parts = l.split('.');
+            let major = parts.next()?.parse::<u32>().ok()?;
+            let minor = parts.next()?.parse::<u32>().ok()?;
+            let patch = parts.next()?.parse::<u32>().ok()?;
+            Some((major, minor, patch))
+        })
+        .collect::<Vec<_>>();
+    releases.sort();
+    let (major, minor, patch) = releases.last().unwrap();
+    println!("{}.{}.{}", major, minor, patch);
+}
diff --git a/ci/update-release-date.rs b/ci/update-release-date.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..72509bd245
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ci/update-release-date.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+fn main() {
+    let date = std::env::args().nth(1).unwrap();
+    let relnotes = std::fs::read_to_string("RELEASES.md").unwrap();
+    let mut new_relnotes = String::new();
+    let mut counter = 0;
+    for line in relnotes.lines() {
+        if line.starts_with("Unreleased") {
+            counter += 1;
+            if counter == 2 {
+                new_relnotes.push_str(&format!("Released {}\n", date));
+                continue;
+            }
+        }
+        new_relnotes.push_str(line);
+        new_relnotes.push_str("\n");
+    }
+    std::fs::write("RELEASES.md", new_relnotes).unwrap();
+}