diff --git a/scm/plugin.jelly b/scm/plugin.jelly
index 4f8fd56d..2f6d4066 100644
--- a/scm/plugin.jelly
+++ b/scm/plugin.jelly
@@ -329,13 +329,14 @@
       <c:release-version version="${version_name}" />
     </j:if>
 
+    <maven:makeRelativePath var="changesXmlSourceDir" path="${maven.docs.src}" separator="/" basedir="${basedir}" />
     <j:set var="testMode" value="${maven.scm.testmode}" />
     <j:choose>
       <j:when test="${testMode == 'true'}">
         <ant:echo> </ant:echo>
         <ant:echo> WARNING: maven.scm.testmode is set to 'true'</ant:echo>
         <ant:echo>          Changes made above will NOT be committed and tagging the project will be skipped! </ant:echo>
-        <ant:echo>          Please check project.xml and xdocs/changes.xml</ant:echo>
+        <ant:echo>          Please check project.xml and ${changesXmlSourceDir}/changes.xml</ant:echo>
         <ant:echo>          Then either re-run scm:prepare-release with maven.scm.testmode=false</ant:echo>
         <ant:echo>          or manually commit the files and tag the source tree:</ant:echo>
         <ant:echo>          maven scm:tag -Dmaven.scm.tag=${tag_name} -Dmaven.scm.url=${scmConnection}</ant:echo>
@@ -343,7 +344,7 @@
       <j:otherwise>
         <ant:echo>Committing descriptors</ant:echo>
         <!-- No tag here - in this context it means the branch to commit to, and we want whatever this checkout current is on -->
-        <scm:checkin url="${scmConnection}" workingDirectory="${basedir}" includes="project.xml,xdocs/changes.xml" message="[maven-scm-plugin] prepare release ${version_name}" username="${maven.scm.username}" password="${maven.scm.password}" />
+        <scm:checkin url="${scmConnection}" workingDirectory="${basedir}" includes="project.xml,${changesXmlSourceDir}/changes.xml" message="[maven-scm-plugin] prepare release ${version_name}" username="${maven.scm.username}" password="${maven.scm.password}" />
         <ant:echo>Tagging source tree</ant:echo>
         <scm:tag url="${scmConnection}" workingDirectory="${basedir}" tag="${tag_name}" tagBase="${maven.scm.svn.tag.base}" username="${maven.scm.username}" password="${maven.scm.password}" />
       </j:otherwise>
diff --git a/scm/xdocs/changes.xml b/scm/xdocs/changes.xml
index 6abe2dcc..f2d2cf5c 100644
--- a/scm/xdocs/changes.xml
+++ b/scm/xdocs/changes.xml
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
   </properties>
   <body>
     <release version="1.7-SNAPSHOT" date="In SVN">
+      <action dev="ltheussl" type="fix" issue="MPSCM-86">scm:prepare-release does not commit modified changes.xml.</action>
       <action dev="ltheussl" type="update">Update dom4j and jelly dependencies to match the ones in maven 1.1 core.</action>
       <action dev="aheritier" type="update">Update dependencies to unify them between plugins. The following dependencies are updated : commons-jelly-tags-interaction v1.0 to v1.1, jaxen v1.0-FCS-full to 1.1-beta-9. Add the dependency to jline for commons-jelly-tags-interaction v1.1.</action>
       <action dev="aheritier" type="update">Upgrade to commons-io 1.2.</action>
