diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index a169db41..17ad31e3 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+25/7/14 started 7.40.5
+- fix a race in im_maxpos_avg()
+
 4/7/14 started 7.40.4
 - fix vips_rawsave_fd(), thanks aferrero2707 
 - fix im_point()
diff --git a/TODO b/TODO
index 31a7f8c5..0475cf41 100644
--- a/TODO
+++ b/TODO
@@ -1,30 +1,4 @@
 
-- maxpos_avg seems to give variable results
-
-	irb(main):022:0> im.maxpos_avg
-	=> [141.0, 138.0, 248.0]
-	irb(main):023:0> im.maxpos_avg
-	=> [73.0, 95.0, 248.0]
-
-  [107.0, 116.5, 248.0] is correct, checked by hand
-
-$ vips max --size 10 spec/samples/wagon.v --x-array --y-array --out-array
-72 107 78 73 74 75 99 100 141 73 
-95 141 94 94 94 95 131 131 138 95 
-245 246 246 247 247 247 247 247 248 248 
-248.000000
-
-  so there are two maxes of 248, result should be average of the two
-
-  seems to be a race in maxpos_avg, it's still some Tom code, replace with a
-  wrapper over vips_max()
-
-  hard to do, since vips_max() needs to be told in advance the number of maxes
-  it should search for
-
-
-
-
 - threadpool recyling might be useful for dzsave?
 
 
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index f408befe..e9327fff 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 # also update the version number in the m4 macros below
 
-AC_INIT([vips], [7.40.4], [vipsip@jiscmail.ac.uk])
+AC_INIT([vips], [7.40.5], [vipsip@jiscmail.ac.uk])
 # required for gobject-introspection
 AC_PREREQ(2.62)
 
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR([m4])
 # user-visible library versioning
 m4_define([vips_major_version], [7])
 m4_define([vips_minor_version], [40])
-m4_define([vips_micro_version], [4])
+m4_define([vips_micro_version], [5])
 m4_define([vips_version],
           [vips_major_version.vips_minor_version.vips_micro_version])
 
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ VIPS_VERSION_STRING=$VIPS_VERSION-`date`
 #   binary interface changes not backwards compatible?: reset age to 0
 
 LIBRARY_CURRENT=38
-LIBRARY_REVISION=2
+LIBRARY_REVISION=3
 LIBRARY_AGE=0
 
 # patched into include/vips/version.h
diff --git a/libvips/deprecated/im_maxpos_avg.c b/libvips/deprecated/im_maxpos_avg.c
index f62a0477..0d7f0417 100644
--- a/libvips/deprecated/im_maxpos_avg.c
+++ b/libvips/deprecated/im_maxpos_avg.c
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@
  * 8/9/08
  * 	- rewrite from im_maxpos()
  * 	- now handles many bands, complex, faster
+ * 27/7/14
+ * 	- fix a race ... did not merge states if max was equal
  */
 
 /*
@@ -116,6 +118,11 @@ maxposavg_stop( void *seq, void *a, void *b )
 	 */
 	if( maxposavg->max > global_maxposavg->max ) 
 		*global_maxposavg = *maxposavg;
+	else if( maxposavg->max == global_maxposavg->max ) {
+		global_maxposavg->xpos += maxposavg->xpos;
+		global_maxposavg->ypos += maxposavg->ypos;
+		global_maxposavg->occurences += maxposavg->occurences;
+	}
 
 	im_free( seq );