diff --git a/.packit.yaml b/.packit.yaml
index 4cd24b0..ced9455 100644
--- a/.packit.yaml
+++ b/.packit.yaml
@@ -22,6 +22,11 @@ actions:
   # No create-archive needed: packit uses a raw git archive, and autoreconf -fi
   # in the spec's %prep generates the required autotools files during the RPM build.
 
+# autoconf is needed in the SRPM build environment for the get-current-version action.
+# (BuildRequires in the spec covers the RPM build environment, not the SRPM build.)
+srpm_build_deps:
+  - autoconf
+
 jobs:
 - job: copr_build
   trigger: pull_request
diff --git a/INSTALL b/INSTALL
index 09c3ef8..b5ffde7 100644
--- a/INSTALL
+++ b/INSTALL
@@ -3,14 +3,25 @@ INSTALLING catdoc
 Starting with patchlevel alpha 3 version 0.90, catdoc uses Unix
 autotools. Thanks for Stephen Farell to convince Victor Wagner.
 
-Typically you should run
+If you're building from git, you need the `autoreconf` package installed.
+Typically you should run:
     autoreconf -fiv
     ./configure
     make
     make -j 4 check
     make install
 
-to compile and install catdoc.
+to compile and install catdoc. You may need to run `make install` as the
+super-user (root), thus e.g. run `sudo make install` if you get permission
+errors.
+
+You can also build from the distribution tarball for a particular release,
+which requires only `make` and a C compiler. The steps are the same except
+you don't run `autoreconf`:
+    ./configure
+    make
+    make -j 4 check
+    make install
 
 NOTE for HPUX users. If you want to compile catdoc with aCC,
 use CC="aCC -Ae" ./configure
diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index ac7686d..77e0bfa 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-   0.97.1 in development
+   0.97.1 March 21 2026
 	Clean up address sanitizer tests.
 	Simplify RPM package builds triggered by Packit.
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 2d2ab86..e36a3da 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -76,10 +76,11 @@ vulnerabilities
 [CVE-2024-52035](https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-52035),
 and
 [CVE-2024-48877](https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-48877)
-identified and addressed by the Cisco Talos team.
+identified and addressed by the Cisco Talos team, and several other memory 
+access vulnerabilities reported over the years.
 See [NEWS](NEWS) and the commit history (search history for "CVE") for other
 fixes made. Some were detected by Address Sanitizer tools, see
-[tests/asan_failures](tests/asan_failures) for more details.
+[tests/asan_failures/README.md](tests/asan_failures/README.md) for more details.
 
 ## Documentation, bugs, more information
 
diff --git a/TODO.md b/TODO.md
index 6bd1011..297b31b 100644
--- a/TODO.md
+++ b/TODO.md
@@ -12,15 +12,6 @@
   happening in a different code path. The leaks are small and occur at program exit, so this
   may be "won't fix".
 
-## Prepare 0.97.1 release
-
-- [ ] Update configure.ac, catdoc.spec, README.md, NEWS to version 0.97.1 (drop `_devel`)
-- [ ] Run `make distcheck` to produce `catdoc-0.97.1.tar.gz`
-- [ ] Tag `v0.97.1` and create a GitHub Release
-- [ ] Upload `catdoc-0.97.1.tar.gz` (from `make distcheck`) as a release asset
-- [ ] Verify packit `trigger: release` fires off a Copr build and succeeds,
-  see https://dashboard.packit.dev/projects/github.com/skierpage/catdoc
-
 ## Research: find more Office 2007 test files
 
 - [ ] Do the Gnome LocalSearch (formerly Tracker), KFileMetadata, and LibreOffice projects have test
diff --git a/catdoc.spec b/catdoc.spec
index 2e200e4..6d1d31a 100644
--- a/catdoc.spec
+++ b/catdoc.spec
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 Name: catdoc
-Version: 0.97.1_devel
-Release: 1.20260320162811988977.master.2.gbb7d4c7%{?dist}
+Version: 0.97.1
+Release: %autorelease
 Summary: programs which extract text from Microsoft Office 97-2004 files
 License: GPL-2.0-or-later
 URL: https://github.com/skierpage/catdoc
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 5c667c0..a460ec8 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 dnl Process this file with autoconf to produce a configure script.
-AC_INIT([catdoc],[0.97.1_devel])
+AC_INIT([catdoc],[0.97.1])
 AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR([build-aux])
 AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([-Wall foreign])
 
diff --git a/tests/README.md b/tests/README.md
index e583d2e..71b492c 100644
--- a/tests/README.md
+++ b/tests/README.md
@@ -25,12 +25,15 @@ The subdirectory [tests/asan_failures](asan_failures) contains various test
 cases that trigger memory access errors. These may trigger crashes in the
 normal binaries, but if you configure catdoc with `--enable-asan`, the test
 cases that remain unfixed will print detailed Address Sanitizer diagnostics.
+The address sanitizer tests use the `ldd` tool to check if the binary was
+compiled with Address Sanitizer support.
 
 ## Expected failing files
 XFAIL_TESTS in tests/Makefile lists test files that are expected to not
 succesfully convert or cause other errors due to known bugs.
 
 ## Command-line tests
+
 Some command lines demonstrate failures, e.g. [petewarden issue #10](https://github.com/petewarden/catdoc/issues/10) - global-buffer-overflow on reader.c:177:20
 
    % catdoc / /-v -wbawdd