diff --git a/django/__init__.py b/django/__init__.py
index 32e1374765a94..873c328add592 100644
--- a/django/__init__.py
+++ b/django/__init__.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-VERSION = (1, 5, 0, 'alpha', 0)
+VERSION = (1, 6, 0, 'alpha', 0)
 
 def get_version(*args, **kwargs):
     # Don't litter django/__init__.py with all the get_version stuff.
diff --git a/docs/conf.py b/docs/conf.py
index 433fd679a18be..6dd84cffba33a 100644
--- a/docs/conf.py
+++ b/docs/conf.py
@@ -52,11 +52,23 @@
 # built documents.
 #
 # The short X.Y version.
-version = '1.5'
+version = '1.6'
 # The full version, including alpha/beta/rc tags.
-release = '1.5'
+try:
+    from django import VERSION, get_version
+except ImportError:
+    release = version
+else:
+    def django_release():
+        pep386ver = get_version()
+        if VERSION[3:5] == ('alpha', 0) and 'dev' not in pep386ver:
+            return pep386ver + '.dev'
+        return pep386ver
+
+    release = django_release()
+
 # The next version to be released
-django_next_version = '1.6'
+django_next_version = '1.7'
 
 # The language for content autogenerated by Sphinx. Refer to documentation
 # for a list of supported languages.