diff --git a/check-news.sh b/check-news.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..24a2ea10b11414b56dcb54cc747c01ca7bfb1de3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/check-news.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,107 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+# Copyright (C) 2019 Red Hat, Inc.
+# Author: Bastien Nocera <hadess@hadess.net>
+#
+# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or
+# (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
+# Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301  USA.
+
+
+# Add to your top-level meson.build to check for an updated NEWS file
+# when doing a "dist" release, similarly to automake's check-news:
+# https://www.gnu.org/software/automake/manual/html_node/List-of-Automake-options.html
+#
+# Checks NEWS for the version number:
+# meson.add_dist_script(
+#   find_program('check-news.sh').path(),
+#   '@0@'.format(meson.project_version())
+# )
+#
+# Checks NEWS and data/foo.appdata.xml for the version number:
+# meson.add_dist_script(
+#   find_program('check-news.sh').path(),
+#   '@0@'.format(meson.project_version()),
+#   'NEWS',
+#   'data/foo.appdata.xml'
+# )
+
+usage()
+{
+	echo "$0 VERSION [FILES...]"
+	exit 1
+}
+
+check_version()
+{
+	VERSION=$1
+	# Look in the first 15 lines for NEWS files, but look
+	# everywhere for other types of files
+	if [ "$2" = "NEWS" ]; then
+		DATA=`sed 15q $SRC_ROOT/"$2"`
+	else
+		DATA=`cat $SRC_ROOT/"$2"`
+	fi
+	case "$DATA" in
+	*"$VERSION"*)
+		:
+		;;
+	*)
+		echo "$2 not updated; not releasing" 1>&2;
+		exit 1
+		;;
+	esac
+}
+
+has_verify_latest_version()
+{
+	appstream-util 2>&1 | grep -q get-latest-version
+	return $?
+}
+
+verify_latest_version()
+{
+	VERSION=$1
+	FILE=$SRC_ROOT/"$2"
+	LATEST_VERSION=`appstream-util get-latest-version "$FILE" | tr -d '\d'`
+	if [ "$LATEST_VERSION" != "$VERSION" ] ; then
+		echo "Expected latest version $VERSION in $FILE, got $LATEST_VERSION"
+		exit 1
+	fi
+}
+
+SRC_ROOT=${MESON_DIST_ROOT:-"./"}
+
+if [ $# -lt 1 ] ; then usage ; fi
+
+VERSION=$1
+shift
+
+if [ $# -eq 0 ] ; then
+	check_version $VERSION 'NEWS'
+	exit 0
+fi
+
+for i in $@ ; do
+	case "$i" in
+	*"metainfo"*)
+		if has_verify_latest_version ; then
+			verify_latest_version $VERSION "$i"
+		fi
+		;;
+	esac
+
+	check_version $VERSION "$i"
+done
+
+exit 0
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index b1990a872c8d8b6a81b8e106066872320860d361..c0ab3d224de4abb5890e897d23748d548e2162cf 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -525,6 +525,23 @@ gnome.post_install(
   update_desktop_database: true,
 )
 
+is_stable = (ev_minor_version != 'alpha' and
+  ev_minor_version != 'beta' and
+  ev_minor_version != 'rc')
+if is_stable
+  meson.add_dist_script(
+    find_program('check-news.sh').full_path(),
+    '@0@'.format(meson.project_version()),
+    'NEWS',
+    'org.gnome.Evince.metainfo.xml.in'
+  )
+else
+  meson.add_dist_script(
+    find_program('check-news.sh').full_path(),
+    '@0@'.format(meson.project_version()),
+    'NEWS',
+  )
+endif
 
 summary({'Platform...................': ev_platform,
          'Debug mode.................': ev_debug,