diff --git a/Include/patchlevel.h b/Include/patchlevel.h
index 2c4a69a..4c9b0d0 100644
--- a/Include/patchlevel.h
+++ b/Include/patchlevel.h
@@ -24,10 +24,10 @@
 #define PY_MINOR_VERSION	7
 #define PY_MICRO_VERSION	0
 #define PY_RELEASE_LEVEL	PY_RELEASE_LEVEL_ALPHA
-#define PY_RELEASE_SERIAL	0
+#define PY_RELEASE_SERIAL	1
 
 /* Version as a string */
-#define PY_VERSION      	"2.7a0"
+#define PY_VERSION      	"2.7a1"
 /*--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 e418214..e8c213e 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/__init__.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/__init__.py
@@ -15,5 +15,5 @@
 # Updated automatically by the Python release process.
 #
 #--start constants--
-__version__ = "2.6"
+__version__ = "2.7a1"
 #--end constants--
diff --git a/Lib/idlelib/idlever.py b/Lib/idlelib/idlever.py
index 57dbd44..c219d19 100644
--- a/Lib/idlelib/idlever.py
+++ b/Lib/idlelib/idlever.py
@@ -1 +1 @@
-IDLE_VERSION = "2.7a0"
+IDLE_VERSION = "2.7a1"
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index d3761ba..3fa76b4 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 What's New in Python 2.7 alpha 1
 ================================
 
-*Release date: XX-XXX-20XX*
+*Release date: 2009-12-04*
 
 Core and Builtins
 -----------------
diff --git a/Misc/RPM/python-2.7.spec b/Misc/RPM/python-2.7.spec
index f878fb2..2d84d53 100644
--- a/Misc/RPM/python-2.7.spec
+++ b/Misc/RPM/python-2.7.spec
@@ -34,8 +34,8 @@
 
 %define name python
 #--start constants--
-%define version 2.6
-%define libver 2.6
+%define version 2.7a1
+%define libver 2.7
 #--end constants--
 %define release 1pydotorg
 %define __prefix /usr
diff --git a/README b/README
index cfea4fd..fdaaf81 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-This is Python version 2.7 alpha 0
+This is Python version 2.7 alpha 1
 ==================================
 
 Copyright (c) 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009