diff --git a/Include/patchlevel.h b/Include/patchlevel.h
index 1671e19e427..9399e9acf3e 100644
--- a/Include/patchlevel.h
+++ b/Include/patchlevel.h
@@ -19,11 +19,11 @@
 #define PY_MAJOR_VERSION	3
 #define PY_MINOR_VERSION	1
 #define PY_MICRO_VERSION	0
-#define PY_RELEASE_LEVEL	PY_RELEASE_LEVEL_ALPHA
-#define PY_RELEASE_SERIAL	2
+#define PY_RELEASE_LEVEL	PY_RELEASE_LEVEL_BETA
+#define PY_RELEASE_SERIAL	1
 
 /* Version as a string */
-#define PY_VERSION      	"3.1a2+"
+#define PY_VERSION      	"3.1b1"
 /*--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 c66806361af..80ccf6113df 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/__init__.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/__init__.py
@@ -15,5 +15,5 @@ __revision__ = "$Id$"
 # Updated automatically by the Python release process.
 #
 #--start constants--
-__version__ = "3.1a2"
+__version__ = "3.1b1"
 #--end constants--
diff --git a/Lib/idlelib/idlever.py b/Lib/idlelib/idlever.py
index 6191313d965..7ed0628c762 100644
--- a/Lib/idlelib/idlever.py
+++ b/Lib/idlelib/idlever.py
@@ -1 +1 @@
-IDLE_VERSION = "3.1a2"
+IDLE_VERSION = "3.1b1"
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index ade72f2c22f..218467a05d3 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ Python News
 What's New in Python 3.1 beta 1?
 ================================
 
-*Release date: XXXX-XX-XX*
+*Release date: 2009-05-06*
 
 Core and Builtins
 -----------------
diff --git a/Misc/RPM/python-3.1.spec b/Misc/RPM/python-3.1.spec
index 4fa512090ae..e29e8407c9f 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 3.1a2
+%define version 3.1b1
 %define libver 3.1
 #--end constants--
 %define release 1pydotorg
diff --git a/README b/README
index ffa3c3d9f16..6263ee25fb8 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-This is Python version 3.1 alpha 2
-==================================
+This is Python version 3.1 beta 1
+=================================
 
 Copyright (c) 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
 Python Software Foundation.