diff --git a/release.sh b/release.sh
index 53ed43e..d4979bb 100755
--- a/release.sh
+++ b/release.sh
@@ -35,9 +35,12 @@ git checkout --detach
 make setup dist
 git add dist/
 
-# Edit package.json and bower.json to the right version
-sed -i "" -E 's|"version": "[^"]+",|"version": "'$VERSION'",|' package.json
-sed -i "" -E 's|"version": "[^"]+",|"version": "'$VERSION'",|' bower.json
+# Edit package.json and bower.json to the right version (see
+# http://stackoverflow.com/a/22084103 for why we need the .bak file to make
+# this mac & linux compatible)
+sed -i.bak 's|"version": "[^"]+",|"version": "'$VERSION'",|' package.json
+sed -i.bak -E 's|"version": "[^"]+",|"version": "'$VERSION'",|' bower.json
+rm -f package.json.bak bower.json.bak
 
 # Make the commit and tag, and push them.
 git add package.json bower.json
@@ -53,8 +56,9 @@ if [ ! -z "$NEXT_VERSION" ]; then
     git checkout master
 
     # Edit package.json and bower.json to the right version
-    sed -i "" -E 's|"version": "[^"]+",|"version": "'$NEXT_VERSION'-pre",|' package.json
-    sed -i "" -E 's|"version": "[^"]+",|"version": "'$NEXT_VERSION'-pre",|' bower.json
+    sed -i.bak -e 's|"version": "[^"]+",|"version": "'$NEXT_VERSION'-pre",|' package.json
+    sed -i.bak -e 's|"version": "[^"]+",|"version": "'$NEXT_VERSION'-pre",|' bower.json
+    rm -f package.json.bak bower.json.bak
 
     git add package.json bower.json
     git commit -n -m "Bump master to v$NEXT_VERSION-pre"