diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index b4fdd27..5c5c027 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -386,7 +386,7 @@
 # will not require subversion. The downloadable snapshots are already exported.
 SVNVERSION := $(shell ./util/getrevision.sh -u 2>/dev/null )
 
-RELEASE := 0.9.7
+RELEASE := 0.9.8-rc1
 VERSION := $(RELEASE)-$(SVNVERSION)
 RELEASENAME ?= $(VERSION)