diff --git a/Include/patchlevel.h b/Include/patchlevel.h
index 8d21ce1..0610f70 100644
--- a/Include/patchlevel.h
+++ b/Include/patchlevel.h
@@ -18,12 +18,12 @@
 /*--start constants--*/
 #define PY_MAJOR_VERSION	3
 #define PY_MINOR_VERSION	1
-#define PY_MICRO_VERSION	0
-#define PY_RELEASE_LEVEL	PY_RELEASE_LEVEL_FINAL
+#define PY_MICRO_VERSION	1
+#define PY_RELEASE_LEVEL	PY_RELEASE_LEVEL_ALPHA
 #define PY_RELEASE_SERIAL	0
 
 /* Version as a string */
-#define PY_VERSION      	"3.1"
+#define PY_VERSION      	"3.1.1a0"
 /*--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 73c77f1..994e91f 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__ = "3.1"
+__version__ = "3.1.1a0"
 #--end constants--
diff --git a/Lib/idlelib/idlever.py b/Lib/idlelib/idlever.py
index c3314d5..3892da2 100644
--- a/Lib/idlelib/idlever.py
+++ b/Lib/idlelib/idlever.py
@@ -1 +1 @@
-IDLE_VERSION = "3.1"
+IDLE_VERSION = "3.1.1a0"
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 32101b5..c8c4f85 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -4,6 +4,18 @@
 
 (editors: check NEWS.help for information about editing NEWS using ReST.)
 
+What's New in Python 3.1.1?
+===========================
+
+*Release date: XX-XX-XXXX"
+
+Core and Builtins
+-----------------
+
+Library
+-------
+
+
 What's New in Python 3.1?
 =========================
 
diff --git a/Misc/RPM/python-3.1.spec b/Misc/RPM/python-3.1.spec
index 074f958..443789a 100644
--- a/Misc/RPM/python-3.1.spec
+++ b/Misc/RPM/python-3.1.spec
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@
 
 %define name python
 #--start constants--
-%define version 3.1
+%define version 3.1.1a0
 %define libver 3.1
 #--end constants--
 %define release 1pydotorg