diff --git a/Include/patchlevel.h b/Include/patchlevel.h
index 12f599c75b3..1fc8cc2b973 100644
--- a/Include/patchlevel.h
+++ b/Include/patchlevel.h
@@ -22,12 +22,12 @@
 /*--start constants--*/
 #define PY_MAJOR_VERSION	2
 #define PY_MINOR_VERSION	7
-#define PY_MICRO_VERSION	1
-#define PY_RELEASE_LEVEL	PY_RELEASE_LEVEL_FINAL
-#define PY_RELEASE_SERIAL	0
+#define PY_MICRO_VERSION	2
+#define PY_RELEASE_LEVEL	PY_RELEASE_LEVEL_GAMMA
+#define PY_RELEASE_SERIAL	1
 
 /* Version as a string */
-#define PY_VERSION      	"2.7.1+"
+#define PY_VERSION      	"2.7.2rc1"
 /*--end constants--*/
 
 /* Subversion Revision number of this file (not of the repository). Empty
diff --git a/Lib/distutils/__init__.py b/Lib/distutils/__init__.py
index a82d4cb5893..e9fc2d6c456 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__ = "2.7.1"
+__version__ = "2.7.2rc1"
 #--end constants--
diff --git a/Lib/idlelib/idlever.py b/Lib/idlelib/idlever.py
index b6e1a1d9c71..4d3c1f622ef 100644
--- a/Lib/idlelib/idlever.py
+++ b/Lib/idlelib/idlever.py
@@ -1 +1 @@
-IDLE_VERSION = "2.7.1"
+IDLE_VERSION = "2.7.2rc1"
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 4540d5f242d..265d91e3e25 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ Python News
 What's New in Python 2.7.2?
 ===========================
 
-*Release date: XXXX-XX-XX*
+*Release date: 2011-05-29*
 
 Core and Builtins
 -----------------
diff --git a/Misc/RPM/python-2.7.spec b/Misc/RPM/python-2.7.spec
index dc437ddb993..6f2e5a4bf82 100644
--- a/Misc/RPM/python-2.7.spec
+++ b/Misc/RPM/python-2.7.spec
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@
 
 %define name python
 #--start constants--
-%define version 2.7.1
+%define version 2.7.2rc1
 %define libvers 2.7
 #--end constants--
 %define release 1pydotorg
diff --git a/README b/README
index da5753cee96..680e5e34e1a 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-This is Python version 2.7.1
+This is Python version 2.7.2
 ============================
 
 Copyright (c) 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011