diff --git a/Include/patchlevel.h b/Include/patchlevel.h
index 6573a00..9287aff 100644
--- a/Include/patchlevel.h
+++ b/Include/patchlevel.h
@@ -22,12 +22,12 @@
 /*--start constants--*/
 #define PY_MAJOR_VERSION	2
 #define PY_MINOR_VERSION	6
-#define PY_MICRO_VERSION	4
-#define PY_RELEASE_LEVEL	PY_RELEASE_LEVEL_FINAL
-#define PY_RELEASE_SERIAL	0
+#define PY_MICRO_VERSION	5
+#define PY_RELEASE_LEVEL	PY_RELEASE_LEVEL_GAMMA
+#define PY_RELEASE_SERIAL	1
 
 /* Version as a string */
-#define PY_VERSION      	"2.6.4+"
+#define PY_VERSION      	"2.6.5rc1"
 /*--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 b37308c..8c2ab8f 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/__init__.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/__init__.py
@@ -22,5 +22,5 @@
 #
 
 #--start constants--
-__version__ = "2.6.4"
+__version__ = "2.6.5rc1"
 #--end constants--
diff --git a/Lib/idlelib/idlever.py b/Lib/idlelib/idlever.py
index 7f3d8f4..d5a6f53 100644
--- a/Lib/idlelib/idlever.py
+++ b/Lib/idlelib/idlever.py
@@ -1 +1 @@
-IDLE_VERSION = "2.6.4"
+IDLE_VERSION = "2.6.5rc1"
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index a7b724f..49353a7 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -4,10 +4,10 @@
 
 (editors: check NEWS.help for information about editing NEWS using ReST.)
 
-What's New in Python 2.6.5
-==========================
+What's New in Python 2.6.5 rc 1?
+================================
 
-*Release date: XX-XXX-20XX*
+*Release date: 2010-03-01*
 
 Core and Builtins
 -----------------
diff --git a/Misc/RPM/python-2.6.spec b/Misc/RPM/python-2.6.spec
index e76ca14..3f869b9 100644
--- a/Misc/RPM/python-2.6.spec
+++ b/Misc/RPM/python-2.6.spec
@@ -39,8 +39,8 @@
 
 %define name python
 #--start constants--
-%define version 2.6.4
-%define libvers 2.6
+%define version 2.6.5rc1
+%define libver 2.6
 #--end constants--
 %define release 1pydotorg
 %define __prefix /usr
diff --git a/README b/README
index 0285a6e..d5adedb 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-This is Python version 2.6.4
-============================
+This is Python version 2.6.5 rc 1
+=================================
 
 Copyright (c) 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010
 Python Software Foundation.