diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 36058466b..23d1d7ebe 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 AC_PREREQ(2.64)
-AC_INIT([openocd], [0.9.0-dev],
+AC_INIT([openocd], [0.9.0-rc1],
   [OpenOCD Mailing List <openocd-devel@lists.sourceforge.net>])
 AC_CONFIG_SRCDIR([src/openocd.c])