diff --git a/Include/patchlevel.h b/Include/patchlevel.h
index 61f12b4..6ed7857 100644
--- a/Include/patchlevel.h
+++ b/Include/patchlevel.h
@@ -23,11 +23,11 @@
 #define PY_MAJOR_VERSION	2
 #define PY_MINOR_VERSION	6
 #define PY_MICRO_VERSION	0
-#define PY_RELEASE_LEVEL	PY_RELEASE_LEVEL_BETA
-#define PY_RELEASE_SERIAL	3
+#define PY_RELEASE_LEVEL	PY_RELEASE_LEVEL_FINAL
+#define PY_RELEASE_SERIAL	0
 
 /* Version as a string */
-#define PY_VERSION      	"2.6b3+"
+#define PY_VERSION      	"2.6rc1"
 /*--end constants--*/
 
 /* Subversion Revision number of this file (not of the repository) */
diff --git a/Lib/distutils/__init__.py b/Lib/distutils/__init__.py
index 74d0a47..b622f7d 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/__init__.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/__init__.py
@@ -22,5 +22,5 @@
 #
 
 #--start constants--
-__version__ = "2.6b3"
+__version__ = "2.6rc1"
 #--end constants--
diff --git a/Lib/idlelib/idlever.py b/Lib/idlelib/idlever.py
index 5c055d0..59c5568 100644
--- a/Lib/idlelib/idlever.py
+++ b/Lib/idlelib/idlever.py
@@ -1 +1 @@
-IDLE_VERSION = "2.6b3"
+IDLE_VERSION = "2.6rc1"
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index a31bcd5..1f2a791 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 What's New in Python 2.6 release candidate 1?
 =============================================
 
-*Release date: XX-XXX-2008*
+*Release date: 12-Sep-2008*
 
 Core and Builtins
 -----------------
diff --git a/Misc/RPM/python-2.6.spec b/Misc/RPM/python-2.6.spec
index 24e40df..cd17d44 100644
--- a/Misc/RPM/python-2.6.spec
+++ b/Misc/RPM/python-2.6.spec
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@
 
 %define name python
 #--start constants--
-%define version 2.6b3
+%define version 2.6rc1
 %define libver 2.6
 #--end constants--
 %define release 1pydotorg
diff --git a/README b/README
index 470e0ee..8a6fa53 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-This is Python version 2.6 beta 3
-=================================
+This is Python version 2.6 release candidate 1
+==============================================
 
 Copyright (c) 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
 Python Software Foundation.