diff --git a/protcur/MANIFEST.in b/protcur/MANIFEST.in
index e18108c..55e12dd 100644
--- a/protcur/MANIFEST.in
+++ b/protcur/MANIFEST.in
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 recursive-include test *
+recursive-include units *.rkt
+include README.org
 exclude MANIFEST.in
+exclude units/parsing.rkt
 recursive-exclude *.egg-info *
 recursive-exclude * *.pyc
 recursive-exclude * *.swp
diff --git a/protcur/protcur/analysis.py b/protcur/protcur/analysis.py
index 524fa7b..302f6d9 100755
--- a/protcur/protcur/analysis.py
+++ b/protcur/protcur/analysis.py
@@ -25,13 +25,12 @@
 #from pysercomb import parsing_parsec
 from hyputils.hypothesis import HypothesisAnnotation, HypothesisHelper, idFromShareLink
 from protcur.core import linewrap, color_pda, log, logd
-from protcur.config import __script_folder__
+from protcur.config import __units_folder__ as units_folder
 from IPython import embed
 
 sgv = Vocabulary(cache=True)
 RFU = 'protc:references-for-use'
-parameter_expression, *_ = units.make_unit_parser(Path(__script_folder__,
-                                                       '../../protc-lib/protc/units'))
+parameter_expression, *_ = units.make_unit_parser(units_folder)
 error_output = []
 
 # utility
diff --git a/protcur/protcur/config.py b/protcur/protcur/config.py
index 0cde0fb..a1fb7e2 100644
--- a/protcur/protcur/config.py
+++ b/protcur/protcur/config.py
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 from pathlib import Path
 __script_folder__ = Path(__file__).resolve().parent
 __units_folder__ = Path(__script_folder__, '../../protc-lib/protc/units')
-__units_test_folder__ = Path(__script_folder__, '../../protc-lib/protc/units/test')
-__units_test_params__ = Path(__script_folder__, '../../protc-lib/protc/units/test/params.rkt')
+
+if not __units_folder__.exists():
+    __units_folder__ = Path('/usr/share')
+
+__units_test_folder__ = __units_folder__ / 'test'
+__units_test_params__ = __units_test_folder__ / 'params.rkt'
diff --git a/protcur/setup.py b/protcur/setup.py
index e33e88f..808f833 100644
--- a/protcur/setup.py
+++ b/protcur/setup.py
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
 import re
+import sys
+import shutil
+from pathlib import Path
 from setuptools import setup
 
 
@@ -16,36 +19,58 @@ def find_version(filename):
     # TODO pandoc conversion
     long_description = f.read()
 
+
+RELEASE = '--release' in sys.argv
+if RELEASE:
+    sys.argv.remove('--release')
+    from protcur.config import __units_folder__, __units_test_folder__
+    units = [p.name for p in __units_folder__.iterdir()
+             if p.is_file() and p.name != 'parsing.rkt' and p.suffix == '.rkt']
+    units_test = [p.parent.name + '/' + p.name
+                  for p in __units_test_folder__.iterdir()
+                  if p.is_file() and p.suffix == '.rkt']
+    shutil.copytree(__units_folder__, 'units')
+    data_files=[('protcur/units', units),
+                ('protcur/units/test', units_test)]
+else:
+    data_files = []
+
 tests_require = ['pytest', 'pytest-runner']
-setup(name='protcur',
-      version=__version__,
-      description='A dashboard for web annotation workflows for protocol curation.',
-      long_description=long_description,
-      long_description_content_type='text/plain',
-      url='https://github.com/tgbugs/protc/tree/master/protcur',
-      author='Tom Gillespie',
-      author_email='tgbugs@gmail.com',
-      license='MIT',
-      classifiers=[],
-      keywords=('protc protocols dashboard curation '
-                'hypothesis hypothes.is web annotation'),
-      packages=['protcur'],
-      python_requires='>=3.6',
-      install_requires=[
-          'flask',
-          'htmlfn',
-          'hyputils>=0.0.4',
-          'Markdown',
-          'pyontutils>=0.1.3',
-          'pysercomb',
-      ],
-      extras_require={'dev':[],
-                      'test': tests_require,
-                     },
-      entry_points={
-          'console_scripts': [
-              'protcur-server=protcur.server:main',
-              'protcur-analysis=protcur.analysis:main',
+
+try:
+    setup(name='protcur',
+          version=__version__,
+          description='A dashboard for web annotation workflows for protocol curation.',
+          long_description=long_description,
+          long_description_content_type='text/plain',
+          url='https://github.com/tgbugs/protc/tree/master/protcur',
+          author='Tom Gillespie',
+          author_email='tgbugs@gmail.com',
+          license='MIT',
+          classifiers=[],
+          keywords=('protc protocols dashboard curation '
+                    'hypothesis hypothes.is web annotation'),
+          packages=['protcur'],
+          python_requires='>=3.6',
+          install_requires=[
+              'flask',
+              'htmlfn',
+              'hyputils>=0.0.4',
+              'Markdown',
+              'pyontutils>=0.1.3',
+              'pysercomb',
           ],
-      },
-     )
+          extras_require={'dev':[],
+                          'test': tests_require,
+                         },
+          entry_points={
+              'console_scripts': [
+                  'protcur-server=protcur.server:main',
+                  'protcur-analysis=protcur.analysis:main',
+              ],
+          },
+          data_files=data_files,
+         )
+finally:
+    if RELEASE:
+        shutil.rmtree('units')