diff --git a/plugins/Filter/plugin.py b/plugins/Filter/plugin.py
index fd469c64d..b8b95b89d 100644
--- a/plugins/Filter/plugin.py
+++ b/plugins/Filter/plugin.py
@@ -383,7 +383,8 @@ class Filter(callbacks.Plugin):
         if c == ' ':
             return c
         if fg is None:
-            fg = str(random.randint(2, 15)).zfill(2)
+            fg = random.randint(2, 15)
+        fg = str(fg).zfill(2)
         return '\x03%s%s' % (fg, c)
 
     @internationalizeDocstring
diff --git a/sandbox/release.py b/sandbox/release.py
index d07eee0b9..bc90db6e5 100644
--- a/sandbox/release.py
+++ b/sandbox/release.py
@@ -4,6 +4,9 @@ import os
 import re
 import sys
 import shutil
+import subprocess
+
+from optparse import OptionParser
 
 def firstLines(filename, n):
     fd = file(filename)
@@ -11,6 +14,7 @@ def firstLines(filename, n):
     while n:
         n -= 1
         lines.append(fd.readline().rstrip('\r\n'))
+    fd.close()
     return lines
 
 def firstLine(filename):
@@ -20,62 +24,64 @@ def error(s):
     sys.stderr.write(s+'\n')
     sys.exit(-1)
 
-def system(sh, errmsg=None):
+def system(sh, errmsg=None, **kwargs):
     if errmsg is None:
-        errmsg = repr(sh)
-    ret = os.system(sh)
+        if isinstance(sh, basestring):
+            errmsg = repr(sh)
+        else:
+            errmsg = repr(' '.join(sh))
+    ret = subprocess.call(sh, **kwargs)
     if ret:
         error(errmsg + '  (error code: %s)' % ret)
 
-def usage():
-    error('Usage: %s [-s|-n] <sf username> <version>\nSpecify -s to pass it on '
-          'to the relevant git commands.\nSpecify -n to perform a dry-run '
-          'release.  No commits or tags are pushed and no files are uploaded.'
-          '\nMust be called from a git checkout.'
-          % sys.argv[0])
-
 def checkGitRepo():
     system('test "$(git rev-parse --is-inside-work-tree)" = "true"',
-           'Must be run from a git checkout.')
+           'Must be run from a git checkout.',
+           shell=True)
     system('test "$(git rev-parse --show-cdup >/dev/null)" = ""',
-           'Must be run from the top-level directory of the git checkout.')
+           'Must be run from the top-level directory of the git checkout.',
+           shell=True)
     system('git rev-parse --verify HEAD >/dev/null '
            '&& git update-index --refresh'
            '&& git diff-files --quiet'
            '&& git diff-index --cached --quiet HEAD --',
-           'Your tree is unclean. Can\'t run from here.')
+           'Your tree is unclean. Can\'t run from here.',
+           shell=True)
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
-    if len(sys.argv) < 3 or len(sys.argv) > 5:
-        usage()
+    usage = 'usage: %prog [options] <username> <version>'
+    parser = OptionParser(usage=usage)
+    parser.set_defaults(sign=False, verbose=False, branch='master')
+    parser.add_option('-s', '--sign', action='store_true', dest='sign',
+                      help='Pass on -s to relevant git commands')
+    parser.add_option('-n', '--dry-run', action='store_true', dest='dry_run',
+                      help='Build the release, but do not push to the git '
+                           'remote or upload the release archives.')
+    parser.add_option('-b', '--branch', metavar='BRANCH', dest='branch',
+                      help='Branch to use for the release. Default: %default')
+    (options, args) = parser.parse_args()
+
+    if len(args) != 2:
+        parser.error('Both username and version must be specified')
+
+    (u, v) = args
+    if not re.match(r'^\d+\.\d+\.\d+(\.\d+)?\w*$', v):
+        parser.error('Invalid version string: '
+                     'must be of the form MAJOR.MINOR.PATCHLEVEL')
 
     checkGitRepo()
 
-    sign = ''
-    dryrun = False
-    while len(sys.argv) > 3:
-        if sys.argv[1] == '-s':
-            sign = '-s'
-            sys.argv.pop(1)
-        elif sys.argv[1] == '-n':
-            dryrun = True
-            sys.argv.pop(1)
-        else:
-            usage()
-
-    print 'Check version string for validity.'
-    (u, v) = sys.argv[1:]
-    if not re.match(r'^\d+\.\d+\.\d+(\.\d+)?\w*$', v):
-        error('Invalid version string: '
-              'must be of the form MAJOR.MINOR.PATCHLEVEL.')
+    sign = options.sign
+    dryrun = options.dry_run
+    branch = options.branch
 
     if os.path.exists('supybot'):
         error('I need to make the directory "supybot" but it already exists.'
               '  Change to an appropriate directory or remove the supybot '
               'directory to continue.')
     print 'Checking out fresh tree from git.'
-    system('git clone git+ssh://%s@supybot.git.sourceforge.net/gitroot/supybot'
-           % u)
+    repo = 'git+ssh://%s@supybot.git.sourceforge.net/gitroot/supybot/supybot' % u
+    system(['git', 'clone', '-b', branch, repo])
     os.chdir('supybot')
 
     print 'Checking RELNOTES version line.'
@@ -90,38 +96,47 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
         error('Invalid third line in ChangeLog.')
 
     print 'Updating version in version files.'
-    versionFiles = ('src/version.py')
+    versionFiles = ['src/version.py']
     for fn in versionFiles:
-        sh = 'perl -pi -e "s/^version\s*=.*/version = \'%s\'/" %s' % (v, fn)
+        sh = ['perl', '-pi', '-e', 's/^version\s*=.*/version = \'%s\'/' % v, fn]
         system(sh, 'Error changing version in %s' % fn)
-    system('git commit %s -m \'Updated to %s.\' %s'
-           % (sign, v, ' '.join(versionFiles)))
+    commit = ['git', 'commit']
+    if sign:
+        commit.append('-s')
+    system(commit + ['-m', 'Updated to %s.' % v] + versionFiles)
 
     print 'Tagging release.'
-    system('git tag %s -m "Release %s" %s' % (sign or '-a', v, v))
+    tag = ['git', 'tag']
+    if sign:
+        tag.append('-s')
+    system(tag + ['-m', "Release %s" % v, 'v%s' % v])
 
     print 'Committing %s+git to version files.' % v
     for fn in versionFiles:
-        sh = 'perl -pi -e "s/^version\s*=.*/version = \'%s\'/" %s' % \
-             (v + '+git', fn)
-        system(sh, 'Error changing version in %s' % fn)
-    system('git commit %s -m \'Updated to %s+git.\' %s'
-           % (sign, v, ' '.join(versionFiles)))
+        system(['perl', '-pi', '-e',
+                's/^version\s*=.*/version = \'%s+git\'/' % v, fn],
+                'Error changing version in %s' % fn)
+    system(commit + ['-m', 'Updated to %s+git.' % v] + versionFiles)
 
     if not dryrun:
         print 'Pushing commits and tag.'
-        system('git push origin master')
-        system('git push --tags')
+        system(['git', 'push', 'origin', branch])
+        system(['git', 'push', '--tags'])
 
+    archive = ['git', 'archive', '--prefix=Supybot-%s/' % v]
     print 'Creating tarball (gzip).'
-    system('git archive --prefix=Supybot-%s/ --format=tar %s '
-           '| gzip -c >../Supybot-%s.tar.gz' % (v, v, v))
+    system(archive + ['-o', '../Supybot-%s.tar.gz' % v,
+                      '--format=tgz', 'v%s' % v])
+
+    system(['git', 'config', 'tar.bz2.command', 'bzip2 -c'])
+
     print 'Creating tarball (bzip2).'
-    system('git archive --prefix=Supybot-%s/ --format=tar %s '
-           '| bzip2 -c >../Supybot-%s.tar.bz2' % (v, v, v))
+    system(archive + ['-o', '../Supybot-%s.tar.bz2' % v,
+                      '--format=bz2', 'v%s' % v])
+
     print 'Creating zip.'
-    system('git archive --prefix=Supybot-%s/ --format=zip %s '
-           '>../Supybot-%s.zip' % (v, v, v))
+    system(archive + ['-o', '../Supybot-%s.zip' % v,
+                      '--format=zip', 'v%s' % v])
 
     os.chdir('..')
     shutil.rmtree('supybot')
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 543451b4a..73c404cce 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -49,6 +49,8 @@ import os
 import subprocess
 
 
+from src.version import version
+
 plugins = [s for s in os.listdir('plugins') if
            os.path.exists(os.path.join('plugins', s, 'plugin.py'))]
 
@@ -154,7 +156,7 @@ setup(
     name='supybot',
     version=version,
     author='Jeremy Fincher',
-    url='http://supybot.com/',
+    url='http://sourceforge.net/projects/supybot/',
     author_email='jemfinch@supybot.com',
     download_url='http://www.sf.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=58965',
     description='A flexible and extensible Python IRC bot and framework.',
diff --git a/src/ircutils.py b/src/ircutils.py
index b252e1275..75bb4c9c3 100644
--- a/src/ircutils.py
+++ b/src/ircutils.py
@@ -412,11 +412,16 @@ class FormatParser(object):
         i = 0
         setI = False
         c = self.getChar()
-        while c.isdigit() and i < 100:
-            setI = True
-            i *= 10
-            i += int(c)
-            c = self.getChar()
+        while c.isdigit():
+            j = i * 10
+            j += int(c)
+            if j >= 16:
+                self.ungetChar(c)
+                break
+            else:
+                setI = True
+                i = j
+                c = self.getChar()
         self.ungetChar(c)
         if setI:
             return i
@@ -428,6 +433,8 @@ class FormatParser(object):
         c = self.getChar()
         if c == ',':
             context.bg = self.getInt()
+        else:
+            self.ungetChar(c)
 
 def wrap(s, length):
     processed = []
diff --git a/src/version.py b/src/version.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..df82bea75
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/version.py
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+"""stick the various versioning attributes in here, so we only have to change
+them once."""
+version = '0.83.4.1+git'