diff --git a/tools/gulp/gulpfile.ts b/tools/gulp/gulpfile.ts
index c7bd8048df41..2def6858c270 100644
--- a/tools/gulp/gulpfile.ts
+++ b/tools/gulp/gulpfile.ts
@@ -28,7 +28,8 @@ import './tasks/example-module';
 import './tasks/lint';
 import './tasks/material-release';
 import './tasks/payload';
-import './tasks/publish';
 import './tasks/unit-test';
 import './tasks/universal';
-import './tasks/validate-release';
+
+import './tasks/publish/publish-task';
+import './tasks/publish/validate-release';
diff --git a/tools/gulp/tasks/publish/branch-check.ts b/tools/gulp/tasks/publish/branch-check.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..33ff59919744
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/gulp/tasks/publish/branch-check.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+import {bold} from 'chalk';
+import {spawnSync} from 'child_process';
+import {buildConfig} from 'material2-build-tools';
+
+/** Regular expression that matches version names and the individual version segments. */
+export const versionNameRegex = /^(\d+)\.(\d+)\.(\d+)(?:-(alpha|beta|rc)\.(\d)+)?/;
+
+/** Regular expression that matches publish branch names and their Semver digits. */
+const publishBranchNameRegex = /^([0-9]+)\.([x0-9]+)(?:\.([x0-9]+))?$/;
+
+/** Checks if the specified version can be released from the current Git branch. */
+export function checkPublishBranch(version: string) {
+  const versionType = getSemverVersionType(version);
+  const branchName = spawnSync('git', ['symbolic-ref', '--short', 'HEAD'],
+    {cwd: buildConfig.projectDir}).stdout.toString().trim();
+
+  if (branchName === 'master') {
+    if (versionType === 'major') {
+      return;
+    }
+
+    throw `Publishing of "${versionType}" releases should not happen inside of the ` +
+        `${bold('master')} branch.`;
+  }
+
+  const branchNameMatch = branchName.match(publishBranchNameRegex) || [];
+  const branchDigits = branchNameMatch.slice(1, 4);
+
+  if (branchDigits[2] === 'x' && versionType !== 'patch') {
+    throw `Cannot publish a "${versionType}" release inside of a patch branch (${branchName})`;
+  }
+
+  if (branchDigits[1] === 'x' && versionType !== 'minor') {
+    throw `Cannot publish a "${versionType}" release inside of a minor branch (${branchName})`;
+  }
+
+  throw `Cannot publish a "${versionType}" release from branch: "${branchName}". Releases should `
+  + `be published from "master" or the according publish branch (e.g. "6.x", "6.4.x")`;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Determines the type of the specified semver version. Can be either a major, minor or
+ * patch version.
+ */
+export function getSemverVersionType(version: string): 'major' | 'minor' | 'patch' {
+  const versionNameMatch = version.match(versionNameRegex);
+
+  if (!versionNameMatch) {
+    throw `Could not parse version: ${version}. Cannot properly determine version type.`;
+  }
+
+  const versionDigits = versionNameMatch.slice(1, 4);
+
+  if (versionDigits[1] === '0' && versionDigits[2] === '0') {
+    return 'major';
+  } else if (versionDigits[2] === '0') {
+    return 'minor';
+  } else {
+    return 'patch';
+  }
+}
diff --git a/tools/gulp/tasks/publish.ts b/tools/gulp/tasks/publish/publish-task.ts
similarity index 76%
rename from tools/gulp/tasks/publish.ts
rename to tools/gulp/tasks/publish/publish-task.ts
index 0cf92199b6d0..9b3faa5ba6fc 100644
--- a/tools/gulp/tasks/publish.ts
+++ b/tools/gulp/tasks/publish/publish-task.ts
@@ -1,11 +1,12 @@
+import {green, grey, red, yellow} from 'chalk';
 import {spawn} from 'child_process';
 import {existsSync, statSync} from 'fs-extra';
-import {join} from 'path';
 import {task} from 'gulp';
-import {execTask} from '../util/task_helpers';
 import {buildConfig, sequenceTask} from 'material2-build-tools';
-import {yellow, green, red, grey} from 'chalk';
 import * as minimist from 'minimist';
+import {join} from 'path';
+import {execTask} from '../../util/task_helpers';
+import {checkPublishBranch, versionNameRegex} from './branch-check';
 
 /** Packages that will be published to NPM by the release task. */
 export const releasePackages = [
@@ -16,9 +17,6 @@ export const releasePackages = [
   'material-moment-adapter'
 ];
 
-/** Regular Expression that matches valid version numbers of Angular Material. */
-export const validVersionRegex = /^\d+\.\d+\.\d+(-(alpha|beta|rc)\.\d+)?$/;
-
 /** Parse command-line arguments for release task. */
 const argv = minimist(process.argv.slice(3));
 
@@ -50,38 +48,39 @@ task(':publish', async () => {
   const version = buildConfig.projectVersion;
   const currentDir = process.cwd();
 
-  if (!version.match(validVersionRegex)) {
-    console.log(red(`Error: Cannot publish due to an invalid version name. Version "${version}" ` +
-      `is not following our semver format.`));
-    console.log(yellow(`A version should follow this format: X.X.X, X.X.X-beta.X, X.X.X-alpha.X, ` +
-        `X.X.X-rc.X`));
+  if (!version.match(versionNameRegex)) {
+    console.error(red(`Error: Cannot publish due to an invalid version name. Version ` +
+        `"${version}" is not following our semver format.`));
+    console.error(yellow(`A version should follow this format: X.X.X, X.X.X-beta.X, ` +
+        `X.X.X-alpha.X, X.X.X-rc.X`));
     return;
   }
 
-  console.log('');
+  console.log();
   if (!tag) {
     console.log(grey('> You can specify the tag by passing --tag=labelName.\n'));
     console.log(green(`Publishing version "${version}" to the latest tag...`));
   } else {
     console.log(yellow(`Publishing version "${version}" to the ${tag} tag...`));
   }
-  console.log('');
-
+  console.log();
 
   if (version.match(/(alpha|beta|rc)/) && (!tag || tag === 'latest')) {
-    console.log(red(`Publishing ${version} to the "latest" tag is not allowed.`));
-    console.log(red(`Alpha, Beta or RC versions shouldn't be published to "latest".`));
-    console.log();
+    console.error(red(`Publishing ${version} to the "latest" tag is not allowed.`));
+    console.error(red(`Alpha, Beta or RC versions shouldn't be published to "latest".`));
+    console.error();
     return;
   }
 
   if (releasePackages.length > 1) {
-    console.warn(red('Warning: Multiple packages will be released if proceeding.'));
-    console.warn(red('Warning: Packages to be released:', releasePackages.join(', ')));
-    console.log();
+    console.warn(yellow('Warning: Multiple packages will be released.'));
+    console.warn(yellow('Warning: Packages to be released:', releasePackages.join(', ')));
+    console.warn();
   }
 
-  console.log(yellow('> Make sure to check the "angularVersion" in the build config.'));
+  checkPublishBranch(version);
+
+  console.log(yellow('> Make sure to check the "requiredAngularVersion" in the package.json.'));
   console.log(yellow('> The version in the config defines the peer dependency of Angular.'));
   console.log();
 
diff --git a/tools/gulp/tasks/validate-release.ts b/tools/gulp/tasks/publish/validate-release.ts
similarity index 97%
rename from tools/gulp/tasks/validate-release.ts
rename to tools/gulp/tasks/publish/validate-release.ts
index b6ba651401a7..2857778058d2 100644
--- a/tools/gulp/tasks/validate-release.ts
+++ b/tools/gulp/tasks/publish/validate-release.ts
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ import {task} from 'gulp';
 import {readFileSync, existsSync} from 'fs';
 import {join} from 'path';
 import {green, red} from 'chalk';
-import {releasePackages} from './publish';
+import {releasePackages} from './publish-task';
 import {sync as glob} from 'glob';
 import {spawnSync} from 'child_process';
 import {buildConfig, sequenceTask} from 'material2-build-tools';
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ import {buildConfig, sequenceTask} from 'material2-build-tools';
 const {projectDir, projectVersion, outputDir} = buildConfig;
 
 /** Git repository URL that has been read out from the project package.json file. */
-const repositoryGitUrl = require('../../../package.json').repository.url;
+const repositoryGitUrl = require('../../../../package.json').repository.url;
 
 /** Path to the directory where all releases are created. */
 const releasesDir = join(outputDir, 'releases');