diff --git a/dev-tools/prepare_release.py b/dev-tools/prepare_release_create_release_version.py
similarity index 70%
rename from dev-tools/prepare_release.py
rename to dev-tools/prepare_release_create_release_version.py
index 9f3e72d6f1a28..07446e58e0135 100644
--- a/dev-tools/prepare_release.py
+++ b/dev-tools/prepare_release_create_release_version.py
@@ -16,11 +16,8 @@
 
 # Prepare a release
 #
-# This script prepares a new release by creating two commits
-#
-# First commit: Update the Version.java to remove the snapshot bit
-# First commit: Remove the -SNAPSHOT suffix in all pom.xml files
-# Second commit: Update Documentation flags
+# 1. Update the Version.java to remove the snapshot bit
+# 2. Remove the -SNAPSHOT suffix in all pom.xml files
 #
 # USAGE:
 #
@@ -128,35 +125,6 @@ def find_release_version():
         return match.group(1)
     raise RuntimeError('Could not find release version in branch')
 
-# Stages the given files for the next git commit
-def add_pending_files(*files):
-  for file in files:
-    if file:
-      # print("Adding file: %s" % (file))
-      run('git add %s' % (file))
-
-# Executes a git commit with 'release [version]' as the commit message
-def commit_release(release):
-  run('git commit -m "Release: Change version from %s-SNAPSHOT to %s"' % (release, release))
-
-def commit_feature_flags(release):
-    run('git commit -m "Update Documentation Feature Flags [%s]"' % release)
-
-# Walks the given directory path (defaults to 'docs')
-# and replaces all 'coming[$version]' tags with
-# 'added[$version]'. This method only accesses asciidoc files.
-def update_reference_docs(release_version, path='docs'):
-  pattern = 'coming[%s' % (release_version)
-  replacement = 'added[%s' % (release_version)
-  pending_files = []
-  def callback(line):
-    return line.replace(pattern, replacement)
-  for root, _, file_names in os.walk(path):
-    for file_name in fnmatch.filter(file_names, '*.asciidoc'):
-      full_path = os.path.join(root, file_name)
-      if process_file(full_path, callback):
-        pending_files.append(os.path.join(root, file_name))
-  return pending_files
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
   release_version = find_release_version()
@@ -169,18 +137,9 @@ def callback(line):
   remove_maven_snapshot(pom_files, release_version)
   remove_version_snapshot(VERSION_FILE, release_version)
 
-  pending_files = pom_files
-  pending_files.append(VERSION_FILE)
-  add_pending_files(*pending_files) # expects var args use * to expand
-  commit_release(release_version)
-
-  pending_files = update_reference_docs(release_version)
-  # split commits for docs and version to enable easy cherry-picking
-  if pending_files:
-    add_pending_files(*pending_files) # expects var args use * to expand
-    commit_feature_flags(release_version)
-  else:
-    print('WARNING: no documentation references updates for release %s' % (release_version))
-
-  print('*** Done removing snapshot version. Run git push manually.')
+  print('*** Done removing snapshot version. DO NOT COMMIT THIS, WHEN CREATING A RELEASE CANDIDATE.')
 
+  shortHash = subprocess.check_output('git log --pretty=format:"%h" -n 1', shell=True)
+  print('')
+  print('*** To create a release candidate run: ')
+  print('  mvn clean deploy -Prelease -DskipTests -Dgpg.keyname="$GPG_KEY_ID" -Dgpg.passphrase="$GPG_PASSPHRASE" -Dpackaging.rpm.rpmbuild=/usr/bin/rpmbuild -Delasticsearch.s3.repository=s3://download.elasticsearch.org/elasticsearch/staging/%s' % (shortHash.decode('utf-8')))
diff --git a/dev-tools/prepare_release_update_documentation.py b/dev-tools/prepare_release_update_documentation.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..c7eae4eeb3245
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dev-tools/prepare_release_update_documentation.py
@@ -0,0 +1,139 @@
+# Licensed to Elasticsearch under one or more contributor
+# license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
+# this work for additional information regarding copyright
+# ownership. Elasticsearch licenses this file to you under
+# the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
+# not use this file except in compliance  with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+# software distributed under the License is distributed on
+# an 'AS IS' BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND,
+# either express or implied. See the License for the specific
+# language governing permissions and limitations under the License.
+
+# Prepare a release: Update the documentation and commit
+#
+# USAGE:
+#
+# python3 ./dev-tools/prepare_release_update_documentation.py
+#
+# Note: Ensure the script is run from the root directory
+#       This script needs to be run and then pushed,
+#       before proceeding with prepare_release_create-release-version.py
+#       on your build VM
+#
+
+import fnmatch
+import subprocess
+import tempfile
+import re
+import os
+import shutil
+
+def run(command):
+  if os.system('%s' % (command)):
+    raise RuntimeError('    FAILED: %s' % (command))
+
+def ensure_checkout_is_clean():
+  # Make sure no local mods:
+  s = subprocess.check_output('git diff --shortstat', shell=True)
+  if len(s) > 0:
+    raise RuntimeError('git diff --shortstat is non-empty: got:\n%s' % s)
+
+  # Make sure no untracked files:
+  s = subprocess.check_output('git status', shell=True).decode('utf-8', errors='replace')
+  if 'Untracked files:' in s:
+    raise RuntimeError('git status shows untracked files: got:\n%s' % s)
+
+  # Make sure we have all changes from origin:
+  if 'is behind' in s:
+    raise RuntimeError('git status shows not all changes pulled from origin; try running "git pull origin" in this branch: got:\n%s' % (s))
+
+  # Make sure we no local unpushed changes (this is supposed to be a clean area):
+  if 'is ahead' in s:
+    raise RuntimeError('git status shows local commits; try running "git fetch origin", "git checkout ", "git reset --hard origin/" in this branch: got:\n%s' % (s))
+
+# Reads the given file and applies the
+# callback to it. If the callback changed
+# a line the given file is replaced with
+# the modified input.
+def process_file(file_path, line_callback):
+  fh, abs_path = tempfile.mkstemp()
+  modified = False
+  with open(abs_path,'w', encoding='utf-8') as new_file:
+    with open(file_path, encoding='utf-8') as old_file:
+      for line in old_file:
+        new_line = line_callback(line)
+        modified = modified or (new_line != line)
+        new_file.write(new_line)
+  os.close(fh)
+  if modified:
+    #Remove original file
+    os.remove(file_path)
+    #Move new file
+    shutil.move(abs_path, file_path)
+    return True
+  else:
+    # nothing to do - just remove the tmp file
+    os.remove(abs_path)
+    return False
+
+# Checks the pom.xml for the release version.
+# This method fails if the pom file has no SNAPSHOT version set ie.
+# if the version is already on a release version we fail.
+# Returns the next version string ie. 0.90.7
+def find_release_version():
+  with open('pom.xml', encoding='utf-8') as file:
+    for line in file:
+      match = re.search(r'<version>(.+)-SNAPSHOT</version>', line)
+      if match:
+        return match.group(1)
+    raise RuntimeError('Could not find release version in branch')
+
+# Stages the given files for the next git commit
+def add_pending_files(*files):
+  for file in files:
+    if file:
+      # print("Adding file: %s" % (file))
+      run('git add %s' % (file))
+
+# Updates documentation feature flags
+def commit_feature_flags(release):
+    run('git commit -m "Update Documentation Feature Flags [%s]"' % release)
+
+# Walks the given directory path (defaults to 'docs')
+# and replaces all 'coming[$version]' tags with
+# 'added[$version]'. This method only accesses asciidoc files.
+def update_reference_docs(release_version, path='docs'):
+  pattern = 'coming[%s' % (release_version)
+  replacement = 'added[%s' % (release_version)
+  pending_files = []
+  def callback(line):
+    return line.replace(pattern, replacement)
+  for root, _, file_names in os.walk(path):
+    for file_name in fnmatch.filter(file_names, '*.asciidoc'):
+      full_path = os.path.join(root, file_name)
+      if process_file(full_path, callback):
+        pending_files.append(os.path.join(root, file_name))
+  return pending_files
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+  release_version = find_release_version()
+
+  print('*** Preparing release version documentation: [%s]' % release_version)
+
+  ensure_checkout_is_clean()
+
+  pending_files = update_reference_docs(release_version)
+  
+  if pending_files:
+    add_pending_files(*pending_files) # expects var args use * to expand
+    commit_feature_flags(release_version)
+  else:
+    print('WARNING: no documentation references updates for release %s' % (release_version))
+
+  print('*** Done.')
+