diff --git a/Lib/distutils/__init__.py b/Lib/distutils/__init__.py
index 80ccf61..5a5db53 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__ = "3.1b1"
+__version__ = "3.1rc1"
 #--end constants--
diff --git a/Lib/idlelib/idlever.py b/Lib/idlelib/idlever.py
index 7ed0628..dd3726c 100644
--- a/Lib/idlelib/idlever.py
+++ b/Lib/idlelib/idlever.py
@@ -1 +1 @@
-IDLE_VERSION = "3.1b1"
+IDLE_VERSION = "3.1rc1"