diff --git a/docs/source/whatsnew/github-stats-7.rst b/docs/source/whatsnew/github-stats-7.rst
index ade355d..48f282d 100644
--- a/docs/source/whatsnew/github-stats-7.rst
+++ b/docs/source/whatsnew/github-stats-7.rst
@@ -1,6 +1,27 @@
 Issues closed in the 7.x development cycle
 ==========================================
 
+Issues closed in 7.7
+--------------------
+
+GitHub stats for 2019/07/03 - 2019/07/26 (tag: 7.6.1)
+
+These lists are automatically generated, and may be incomplete or contain duplicates.
+
+We closed 5 issues and merged 9 pull requests.
+The full list can be seen `on GitHub <https://github.com/ipython/ipython/issues?q=milestone%3A7.7>`__
+
+The following 8 authors contributed 26 commits.
+
+* Brandon T. Willard
+* juanis2112
+* lllf
+* Matthias Bussonnier
+* Min ho Kim
+* Oriol (Prodesk)
+* Po-Chuan Hsieh
+* techassetskris
+
 Issues closed in 7.6
 --------------------
 
diff --git a/tools/release_helper.sh b/tools/release_helper.sh
index a9777f0..c60fffe 100644
--- a/tools/release_helper.sh
+++ b/tools/release_helper.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,13 @@
 # Simple tool to help for release
 # when releasing with bash, simplei source it to get asked questions. 
 
+# misc check before starting
+
+python -c 'import keyring'
+python -c 'import twine'
+python -c 'import sphinx'
+python -c 'import sphinx_rtd_theme'
+
 echo -n 'PREV_RELEASE (X.y.z):'
 read PREV_RELEASE
 echo -n 'MILESTONE (X.y):'
@@ -40,8 +47,7 @@ read
 echo "Cleaning repository"
 git clean -xfdi
 
-echo "please update version number in ${RED}IPython/core/release.py${NOR} , Do not commit
-yet – we'll do it later."
+echo "please update version number in ${RED}IPython/core/release.py${NOR} , Do not commit yet – we'll do it later."
 
 echo "Press enter to continue"
 read