diff --git a/xdoc/project.xml b/xdoc/project.xml
index fa0d582d..89d0065d 100644
--- a/xdoc/project.xml
+++ b/xdoc/project.xml
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
   <pomVersion>3</pomVersion>
   <id>maven-xdoc-plugin</id>
   <name>Maven XDoc Plug-in</name>
-  <currentVersion>1.7.3-SNAPSHOT</currentVersion>
+  <currentVersion>1.8-SNAPSHOT</currentVersion>
   <description>Convert xdocs into HTML. Requires Maven 1.0 RC2.</description>
   <shortDescription>Convert xdocs into HTML</shortDescription>
   <url>http://maven.apache.org/reference/plugins/xdoc/</url>
@@ -60,6 +60,11 @@
       <name>1.7.2</name>
       <tag>MAVEN_XDOC_1_7_2</tag>
     </version>
+    <version>
+      <id>1.8</id>
+      <name>1.8</name>
+      <tag>HEAD</tag>
+    </version>
   </versions>
   <developers>
     <developer>
diff --git a/xdoc/src/plugin-resources/templates/downloads.jelly b/xdoc/src/plugin-resources/templates/downloads.jelly
index 53c02fc8..f7896436 100644
--- a/xdoc/src/plugin-resources/templates/downloads.jelly
+++ b/xdoc/src/plugin-resources/templates/downloads.jelly
@@ -60,9 +60,17 @@
                 <p>
                   List of available downloads.
                 </p>
+
+                <!-- Generate a table with download links and release notes. The release notes
+                     are only generated if there is a xdocs/changes.xml file in the project -->
+                <util:file var="changesAsFile" name="${maven.docs.src}/changes.xml"/>
+
                 <table>
                   <tr>
                     <th>Download links</th>
+                    <j:if test="${changesAsFile.exists()}">
+                      <th>Release notes</th>
+                    </j:if>
                   </tr>
                   <j:forEach var="version" items="${pom.versions}">
                     <!-- Exclude the version being worked on (i.e. the one 
@@ -72,6 +80,13 @@
                         <td>
                           <a href="${maven.xdoc.distributionUrl}/${pom.artifactId}-${version}.${maven.xdoc.distributionType}">${pom.name} v${version}</a>
                         </td>
+                        <j:if test="${changesAsFile.exists()}">
+                          <td>
+                            <!-- Call the Announcement plugin to generate release notes -->
+                            <attainGoal name="announcement:generate-all"/>
+                            <a href="announcements/announcement-${version}.txt">${version} release notes</a>
+                          </td>
+                        </j:if>
                       </tr>
                     </j:if>
                   </j:forEach>
diff --git a/xdoc/xdocs/changes.xml b/xdoc/xdocs/changes.xml
index 8ce54cfc..c87b1e65 100644
--- a/xdoc/xdocs/changes.xml
+++ b/xdoc/xdocs/changes.xml
@@ -25,7 +25,12 @@
     <author email="vmassol@apache.org">Vincent Massol</author>
   </properties>
   <body>
-    <release version="1.7.3-SNAPSHOT" date="in CVS">
+    <release version="1.8-SNAPSHOT" date="in CVS">
+      <action dev="vmassol" type="add">
+        Added a link to the release notes in the download report. Note that this
+        link is only created if the project has a <code>xdocs/changes.xml</code> 
+        file.
+      </action>
       <action dev="carlos" type="add" issue="MPXDOC-112">Add instructions to checkout with maven to cvs-usage page</action>
     </release>
     <release version="1.7.2" date="2004-06-25">