diff --git a/Include/patchlevel.h b/Include/patchlevel.h
index ba11e186d9b..7f8324c99df 100644
--- a/Include/patchlevel.h
+++ b/Include/patchlevel.h
@@ -23,11 +23,11 @@
 #define PY_MAJOR_VERSION	2
 #define PY_MINOR_VERSION	7
 #define PY_MICRO_VERSION	0
-#define PY_RELEASE_LEVEL	PY_RELEASE_LEVEL_ALPHA
-#define PY_RELEASE_SERIAL	4
+#define PY_RELEASE_LEVEL	PY_RELEASE_LEVEL_BETA
+#define PY_RELEASE_SERIAL	1
 
 /* Version as a string */
-#define PY_VERSION      	"2.7a4+"
+#define PY_VERSION      	"2.7b1"
 /*--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 0158996441a..aa55cccb77c 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__ = "2.7a4"
+__version__ = "2.7b1"
 #--end constants--
diff --git a/Lib/idlelib/idlever.py b/Lib/idlelib/idlever.py
index 2343ea8f791..a78d4ec70ca 100644
--- a/Lib/idlelib/idlever.py
+++ b/Lib/idlelib/idlever.py
@@ -1 +1 @@
-IDLE_VERSION = "2.7a4"
+IDLE_VERSION = "2.7b1"
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index e11d9cd3d47..7ddeff07d26 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ Python News
 What's New in Python 2.7 beta 1?
 ================================
 
-*Release date: XXXX-XX-XX*
+*Release date: 2010-04-10*
 
 Core and Builtins
 -----------------
diff --git a/Misc/RPM/python-2.7.spec b/Misc/RPM/python-2.7.spec
index ee2abe793c5..c875be5ee23 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 2.7a4
+%define version 2.7b1
 %define libver 2.7
 #--end constants--
 %define release 1pydotorg
diff --git a/README b/README
index 092f8ee3b13..5be424bf915 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-This is Python version 2.7 alpha 4
-==================================
+This is Python version 2.7 beta 1
+=================================
 
 Copyright (c) 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010
 Python Software Foundation.