diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 72a0025019..5c0e9dbdcc 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+1.6-dev.223 Tue Jul 19 19:10:36 PDT 2011
+
+- Adding a script to update CHANGES and VERSION. (Robin Sommer)
+
 1.6-dev.218 Tue Jul 19 18:16:44 PDT 2011
 
 - Comprehensive policy script overhaul/rewrite. (Seth Hall)
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index 638687b36f..9799072fe7 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-1.6-dev.218
+1.6-dev.223
diff --git a/aux/devel-tools/update-changes b/aux/devel-tools/update-changes
index f6d2979568..498081bc79 100755
--- a/aux/devel-tools/update-changes
+++ b/aux/devel-tools/update-changes
@@ -25,8 +25,6 @@ function my_describe
     last_tag_rev="<norev>"
 
     for i in `git rev-list --first-parent $rev`; do
-        echo $d >&2 git describe --exact-match $i
-
         tag=`git describe --exact-match $i 2>/dev/null`;
         if [ "$tag" != "" ]; then
             last_tag="$tag"
@@ -121,7 +119,7 @@ last=`cat $changes | awk '{print $1}' | egrep '[0-9]+\.[0-9]+' | head -1 | sed '
 not_last_rev=""
 for i in `git rev-list --first-parent HEAD`; do
     descr=`normed_describe $i`
-    # echo "### debug: $i $descr $last"
+    #echo "### debug: $i $descr $last"
     echo -n .
     if [ "$descr" == "$last" ]; then
         not_last_rev="^$i"