diff --git a/doc/release-process.md b/doc/release-process.md
index b43540ce3..bcbab4946 100644
--- a/doc/release-process.md
+++ b/doc/release-process.md
@@ -40,6 +40,16 @@ process. If these were not anticipated correctly, this could block the
 release, so if you suspect this is necessary, double check with the
 whole engineering team.
 
+## Release dependencies
+
+The release script has the following dependencies:
+
+- `help2man`
+- `debchange` (part of the devscripts Debian package)
+
+You can optionally install the `progressbar2` Python module with pip to have a
+progress bar displayed during the build process.
+
 ## Release process
 
 In the commands below, <RELEASE> and <RELEASE_PREV> are prefixed with a v, ie.
diff --git a/zcutil/make-release.py b/zcutil/make-release.py
index 991fde051..7d505c279 100755
--- a/zcutil/make-release.py
+++ b/zcutil/make-release.py
@@ -209,8 +209,27 @@ def patch_release_height(releaseheight):
 
 @phase('Building...')
 def build():
+    base_dir = os.getcwd()
+    depends_dir = os.path.join(base_dir, 'depends')
+    src_dir = os.path.join(base_dir, 'src')
     nproc = sh_out('nproc').strip()
-    sh_log('./zcutil/build.sh', '-j', nproc)
+    sh_progress([
+        'Staging boost...',
+        'Staging libevent...',
+        'Staging zeromq...',
+        'Staging libgmp...',
+        'Staging libsodium...',
+        "Leaving directory '%s'" % depends_dir,
+        'config.status: creating libzcashconsensus.pc',
+        "Entering directory '%s'" % src_dir,
+        'httpserver.cpp',
+        'torcontrol.cpp',
+        'gtest/test_tautology.cpp',
+        'gtest/test_metrics.cpp',
+        'test/equihash_tests.cpp',
+        'test/util_tests.cpp',
+        "Leaving directory '%s'" % src_dir,
+        ], './zcutil/build.sh', '-j', nproc)
 
 
 @phase('Generating manpages.')
@@ -348,8 +367,9 @@ def sh_out(*args):
 
 def sh_log(*args):
     PIPE = subprocess.PIPE
+    STDOUT = subprocess.STDOUT
     try:
-        p = subprocess.Popen(args, stdout=PIPE, stderr=PIPE, stdin=None)
+        p = subprocess.Popen(args, stdout=PIPE, stderr=STDOUT, stdin=None)
     except OSError:
         logging.error('Error launching %r...', args)
         raise
@@ -362,6 +382,38 @@ def sh_log(*args):
         raise SystemExit('Nonzero exit status: {!r}'.format(status))
 
 
+def sh_progress(markers, *args):
+    try:
+        import progressbar
+    except:
+        sh_log(*args)
+        return
+
+    PIPE = subprocess.PIPE
+    STDOUT = subprocess.STDOUT
+    try:
+        p = subprocess.Popen(args, stdout=PIPE, stderr=STDOUT, stdin=None)
+    except OSError:
+        logging.error('Error launching %r...', args)
+        raise
+
+    pbar = progressbar.ProgressBar(max_value=len(markers))
+    marker = 0
+    pbar.update(marker)
+    logging.debug('Run (log PID %r): %r', p.pid, args)
+    for line in p.stdout:
+        logging.debug('> %s', line.rstrip())
+        for idx, val in enumerate(markers[marker:]):
+            if val in line:
+                marker += idx + 1
+                pbar.update(marker)
+                break
+    pbar.finish()
+    status = p.wait()
+    if status != 0:
+        raise SystemExit('Nonzero exit status: {!r}'.format(status))
+
+
 class Version (object):
     '''A release version.'''