diff --git a/lib/meteor.js b/lib/meteor.js
index 23fb679b26..fcacd7bae5 100644
--- a/lib/meteor.js
+++ b/lib/meteor.js
@@ -82,8 +82,6 @@ Fiber(function () {
   // found in the warehouse, or null if warehouse has no releases
   var releaseVersion = null;
   var calculateReleaseVersion = function (argv) {
-    ensureSomeRelease();
-
     if (!files.usesWarehouse()) {
       if (argv.release) {
         console.error("Cannot specify --release when running meteor from a git checkout.");
@@ -94,6 +92,8 @@ Fiber(function () {
       return 'none';
     }
 
+    ensureSomeRelease();
+
     // If a release was specified explicitly on the command line, that's the one
     // to use.
     if (argv.release)
diff --git a/lib/warehouse.js b/lib/warehouse.js
index f3a20c2b6a..021f20fcc7 100644
--- a/lib/warehouse.js
+++ b/lib/warehouse.js
@@ -25,8 +25,9 @@ var _ = require("underscore");
 
 // XXX do we really need this __dirname dance? Doesn't
 // require("./files.js") work?
-var files = require(path.join(__dirname, "files.js"));
-var project = require(path.join(__dirname, "project.js"));
+var files = require('./files.js');
+var project = require('./project.js'));
+var updater = require('./updater.js');
 
 var PACKAGES_URLBASE = 'https://packages.meteor.com';
 
@@ -77,11 +78,14 @@ var warehouse = module.exports = {
     }
   },
 
+  _latestReleaseSymlinkPath: function () {
+    return path.join(warehouse.getWarehouseDir(), 'releases', 'latest');
+  },
+
   // look in the warehouse for the latest release version. if no
   // releases are found, return null.
   latestRelease: function() {
-    var latestReleaseSymlink = path.join(
-      warehouse.getWarehouseDir(), 'releases', 'latest');
+    var latestReleaseSymlink = warehouse._latestReleaseSymlinkPath();
     try {
       return fs.readlinkSync(latestReleaseSymlink);
     } catch (e) {
@@ -89,13 +93,23 @@ var warehouse = module.exports = {
     }
   },
 
+  // XXX make errors prettier
   fetchLatestRelease: function () {
     var manifest = Future.wrap(updater.get_manifest)().wait();
-    var release = manifest.releases.stable; // XXX in the future support release channels
-    this._populateWarehouseForRelease(release);
-    // xcxc write getReleaseDir();
-//xcxc    fs.symlinkSync(); to temp, random filename
-    // xcxc rename
+    // XXX in the future support release channels other than stable
+    var releaseName = manifest.releases.stable;
+    if (!releaseName) {
+      console.error("No stable release found.");
+      process.exit(1);
+    }
+
+    warehouse._populateWarehouseForRelease(releaseName);
+    var latestReleaseSymlink = warehouse._latestReleaseSymlinkPath();
+    var tmpSymlink = latestReleaseSymlink + ".tmp" + warehouse._randomToken();
+    // You can't directly symlink over an existing symlink, but you can rename
+    // over it.
+    fs.symlinkSync(releaseName, tmpSymlink);
+    fs.renameSync(tmpSymlink, latestReleaseSymlink);
   },
 
   existsInWarehouse: function (name, version) {