diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 80a3dccb1..745994992 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -128,8 +128,9 @@ jobs:
         ls -lRFh artifacts
 
     - name: Generate github release notes
+      # ref should be the release's main tag name
       run: |
-        doc/ghrelnotes ${{ github.ref }}   # ref should be the release's main tag name
+        doc/ghrelnotes ${{ github.ref }} >ghrelnotes.md
 
     - name: Create release
       uses: softprops/action-gh-release@69320dbe05506a9a39fc8ae11030b214ec2d1f87  # https://github.com/softprops/action-gh-release 2.0.5
@@ -153,7 +154,7 @@ jobs:
         # append_body              Boolean  Append to existing body instead of overwriting it
         # make_latest              String   Specifies whether this release should be set as the latest release for the repository. Drafts and prereleases cannot be set as latest. Can be true, false, or legacy. Uses GitHub api defaults if not provided
         #
-        body_path: doc/ghrelnotes.md
+        body_path: ghrelnotes.md
         files: |
           artifacts/*.zip
           artifacts/*.tar.gz
diff --git a/doc/ghrelnotes b/doc/ghrelnotes
index 7517e08bd..7c9aefb57 100755
--- a/doc/ghrelnotes
+++ b/doc/ghrelnotes
@@ -1,16 +1,15 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
-# ghrelnotes REL - generate github release notes for REL, as ghrelnotes.md.   -*- markdown -*-
+# ghrelnotes REL - generate github release notes for REL.   -*- markdown -*-
 
 cd "$(dirname $0)"
-OUT=ghrelnotes.md
-cat >$OUT <<'END'
+cat <<'END'
 
 ## Release notes
 
 END
 export REL=$1
-../tools/getrelnotes $REL >>$OUT
-envsubst '$REL' >>$OUT <<'END'
+../tools/getrelnotes $REL
+envsubst '$REL' <<'END'
 
 <details>
 <summary>