diff --git a/dev-support/releasedocmaker.py b/dev-support/releasedocmaker.py
index 78c8e6b4c0..2ccc1c0b84 100755
--- a/dev-support/releasedocmaker.py
+++ b/dev-support/releasedocmaker.py
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 
 from glob import glob
 from optparse import OptionParser
+from time import gmtime, strftime
 import os
 import re
 import sys
@@ -82,6 +83,7 @@ def notableclean(str):
   str=str.replace("|","\|")
   str=str.replace("<","\<")
   str=str.replace(">","\>")
+  str=str.replace("*","\*")
   str=str.rstrip()
   return str
 
@@ -335,6 +337,8 @@ def main():
              help="only create the master, merged project files")
   parser.add_option("-i","--index", dest="index", action="store_true",
              help="build an index file")
+  parser.add_option("-u","--usetoday", dest="usetoday", action="store_true",
+             help="use current date for unreleased versions")
   (options, args) = parser.parse_args()
 
   if (options.versions == None):
@@ -356,6 +360,8 @@ def main():
 
   if version in releaseVersion:
     reldate=releaseVersion[version]
+  elif options.usetoday:
+    reldate=strftime("%Y-%m-%d", gmtime())
   else:
     reldate="Unreleased"
 
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
index adbe8b5673..b89543dd5c 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
@@ -209,6 +209,9 @@ Trunk (Unreleased)
     HADOOP-11857. Fix CommandFormat#commandFormat java doc annotation.
     (J.Andreina via jghoman)
 
+    HADOOP-11813. releasedocmaker.py should use today's date instead of
+    unreleased (Darrell Taylor via aw)
+
   BUG FIXES
 
     HADOOP-11473. test-patch says "-1 overall" even when all checks are +1
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/pom.xml b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/pom.xml
index 9ca2c9bb98..bb735c2e78 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/pom.xml
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/pom.xml
@@ -929,6 +929,7 @@
                             <argument>--version</argument>
                             <argument>${project.version}</argument>
                             <argument>--index</argument>
+                            <argument>--usetoday</argument>
                         </arguments>
                     </configuration>
                 </execution>