diff --git a/INSTALL b/INSTALL
index 13bd706..ec2dbee 100644
--- a/INSTALL
+++ b/INSTALL
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ build a .deb package by typing:
 Prerequisites
 -------------
 - A system sufficiently compatible to POSIX and GNU.
-- POSIX utilities: chmod, printf, sh, sed (or compatible)
+- POSIX utilities: chmod, head, printf, sh, sed (or compatible)
 - GNU utilities: date, gzip, install, tar (or compatible)
 - Other utilities: bzip2
 - Imlib2 shared library and development headers. On a Debian or Ubuntu system
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 35cef7c..5b33d83 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ DOCDIR  := $(PREFIX)/share/doc/ssocr
 DOCS    := AUTHORS COPYING INSTALL README THANKS NEWS
 VERSION := $(shell sed -n 's/^.*VERSION.*"\(.*\)".*/\1/p' defines.h)
 CRYEARS := $(shell sed -n 's/^.*fprintf.*Copyright.*\(2004-2[0-9][0-9][0-9]\).*Erik.*Auerswald.*$$/\1/p' help.c)
-MANYEAR := $(shell sed -n 's/^.*fprintf.*Copyright.*2004-\(2[0-9][0-9][0-9]\).*Erik.*Auerswald.*$$/\1/p' help.c)
+RELDATE := $(shell sed -n 's/^Version [.0-9]* .\([-0-9]*\).*$$/\1/p' NEWS | head -n1)
 
 all: ssocr ssocr.1
 
@@ -21,9 +21,9 @@ imgproc.o: imgproc.c defines.h imgproc.h help.h Makefile
 help.o: help.c defines.h imgproc.h help.h Makefile
 charset.o: charset.c charset.h defines.h help.h Makefile
 
-ssocr.1: ssocr.1.in Makefile defines.h help.c
+ssocr.1: ssocr.1.in Makefile defines.h help.c NEWS
 	sed -e 's/@VERSION@/$(VERSION)/' \
-	    -e 's/@DATE@/$(MANYEAR)/' \
+	    -e 's/@DATE@/$(RELDATE)/' \
 	    -e 's/@CRYEARS@/$(CRYEARS)/' <$< >$@
 
 ssocr-manpage.html: ssocr.1
diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 259a51f..cb233ea 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -3,8 +3,8 @@ Noteworthy Changes in ssocr Releases
 
 Upcoming Version ?.??.? (????-??-??):
 -------------------------------------
- * The man page uses the year of the last ssocr update as its date instead
-   of the build day of the man page, to help reproducible builds
+ * The man page uses the latest ssocr release date as its date (to help
+   in creating reproducible builds)
  * Documentation improvements
 
 Version 2.23.0 (2023-05-01):