diff --git a/META b/META
index eb64a8d9a0..de080ffe70 100644
--- a/META
+++ b/META
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
   Minor:	3
   Micro:	0
   Version:	2.3.0
-  Release:	0.pre6
+  Release:	0.rc1
 ##
 #  When changing API_CURRENT update src/common/slurm_protocol_common.h
 #  with a new SLURM_PROTOCOL_VERSION signifing the old one and the version