diff --git a/.zenodo.json b/.zenodo.json
index d320d842768..880c51ec50c 100644
--- a/.zenodo.json
+++ b/.zenodo.json
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 {
     "description": "Mirror of the Sage https://sagemath.org/ source tree", 
     "license": "other-open", 
-    "title": "sagemath/sage: 9.8.beta7", 
-    "version": "9.8.beta7", 
+    "title": "sagemath/sage: 9.8.rc0", 
+    "version": "9.8.rc0", 
     "upload_type": "software", 
-    "publication_date": "2023-01-18", 
+    "publication_date": "2023-01-29", 
     "creators": [
         {
             "affiliation": "SageMath.org", 
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
     "related_identifiers": [
         {
             "scheme": "url", 
-            "identifier": "https://github.com/sagemath/sage/tree/9.8.beta7", 
+            "identifier": "https://github.com/sagemath/sage/tree/9.8.rc0", 
             "relation": "isSupplementTo"
         }, 
         {
diff --git a/VERSION.txt b/VERSION.txt
index 99c6c4d74f8..9b1a16093ba 100644
--- a/VERSION.txt
+++ b/VERSION.txt
@@ -1 +1 @@
-SageMath version 9.8.beta7, Release Date: 2023-01-18
+SageMath version 9.8.rc0, Release Date: 2023-01-29
diff --git a/build/pkgs/configure/checksums.ini b/build/pkgs/configure/checksums.ini
index f6df6004aed..c8aa6a8cb62 100644
--- a/build/pkgs/configure/checksums.ini
+++ b/build/pkgs/configure/checksums.ini
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 tarball=configure-VERSION.tar.gz
-sha1=989f4d14dd5ffaa6ec10c3574eb05bf8936bc493
-md5=b5c5cde1e8679d1859d8535ed9df961c
-cksum=2678132185
+sha1=cc57d00f6f8fd1c5123b6f7dee07d8c6c717859d
+md5=62d1ead9dd1ddfa11a1c4164f197bddb
+cksum=580469152
diff --git a/build/pkgs/configure/package-version.txt b/build/pkgs/configure/package-version.txt
index f4782328b9a..ccdae0f00f4 100644
--- a/build/pkgs/configure/package-version.txt
+++ b/build/pkgs/configure/package-version.txt
@@ -1 +1 @@
-156046b3bdfd1913720f061f9cd1cd9b23487041
+0f25b00a8e24881db418b69dcfe499d6437aa5b7
diff --git a/build/pkgs/sage_conf/install-requires.txt b/build/pkgs/sage_conf/install-requires.txt
index 8173381172c..74ac295ea7e 100644
--- a/build/pkgs/sage_conf/install-requires.txt
+++ b/build/pkgs/sage_conf/install-requires.txt
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
 # This file is updated on every release by the sage-update-version script
-sage-conf ~= 9.8b7
+sage-conf ~= 9.8rc0
diff --git a/build/pkgs/sage_docbuild/install-requires.txt b/build/pkgs/sage_docbuild/install-requires.txt
index f47daf6f08c..e83ffbd9e41 100644
--- a/build/pkgs/sage_docbuild/install-requires.txt
+++ b/build/pkgs/sage_docbuild/install-requires.txt
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
 # This file is updated on every release by the sage-update-version script
-sage-docbuild ~= 9.8b7
+sage-docbuild ~= 9.8rc0
diff --git a/build/pkgs/sage_setup/install-requires.txt b/build/pkgs/sage_setup/install-requires.txt
index e50d404e518..7fd4d0af71e 100644
--- a/build/pkgs/sage_setup/install-requires.txt
+++ b/build/pkgs/sage_setup/install-requires.txt
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
 # This file is updated on every release by the sage-update-version script
-sage-setup ~= 9.8b7
+sage-setup ~= 9.8rc0
diff --git a/build/pkgs/sage_sws2rst/install-requires.txt b/build/pkgs/sage_sws2rst/install-requires.txt
index bf2f5fd857c..c9d4a15b379 100644
--- a/build/pkgs/sage_sws2rst/install-requires.txt
+++ b/build/pkgs/sage_sws2rst/install-requires.txt
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
 # This file is updated on every release by the sage-update-version script
-sage-sws2rst ~= 9.8b7
+sage-sws2rst ~= 9.8rc0
diff --git a/build/pkgs/sagelib/install-requires.txt b/build/pkgs/sagelib/install-requires.txt
index 49738169e52..7547433afc9 100644
--- a/build/pkgs/sagelib/install-requires.txt
+++ b/build/pkgs/sagelib/install-requires.txt
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
 # This file is updated on every release by the sage-update-version script
-sagelib ~= 9.8b7
+sagelib ~= 9.8rc0
diff --git a/build/pkgs/sagemath_categories/install-requires.txt b/build/pkgs/sagemath_categories/install-requires.txt
index 273135263f1..e937c5efade 100644
--- a/build/pkgs/sagemath_categories/install-requires.txt
+++ b/build/pkgs/sagemath_categories/install-requires.txt
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
 # This file is updated on every release by the sage-update-version script
-sagemath-categories ~= 9.8b7
+sagemath-categories ~= 9.8rc0
diff --git a/build/pkgs/sagemath_environment/install-requires.txt b/build/pkgs/sagemath_environment/install-requires.txt
index 619831e2378..1e742ec5496 100644
--- a/build/pkgs/sagemath_environment/install-requires.txt
+++ b/build/pkgs/sagemath_environment/install-requires.txt
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
 # This file is updated on every release by the sage-update-version script
-sagemath-environment ~= 9.8b7
+sagemath-environment ~= 9.8rc0
diff --git a/build/pkgs/sagemath_objects/install-requires.txt b/build/pkgs/sagemath_objects/install-requires.txt
index 1e3f77fdc1a..2223d5b7bb4 100644
--- a/build/pkgs/sagemath_objects/install-requires.txt
+++ b/build/pkgs/sagemath_objects/install-requires.txt
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
 # This file is updated on every release by the sage-update-version script
-sagemath-objects ~= 9.8b7
+sagemath-objects ~= 9.8rc0
diff --git a/build/pkgs/sagemath_repl/install-requires.txt b/build/pkgs/sagemath_repl/install-requires.txt
index b9059f892b0..8708f85db04 100644
--- a/build/pkgs/sagemath_repl/install-requires.txt
+++ b/build/pkgs/sagemath_repl/install-requires.txt
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
 # This file is updated on every release by the sage-update-version script
-sagemath-repl ~= 9.8b7
+sagemath-repl ~= 9.8rc0
diff --git a/pkgs/sage-conf/VERSION.txt b/pkgs/sage-conf/VERSION.txt
index a7d9d0225f4..86e67536ed2 100644
--- a/pkgs/sage-conf/VERSION.txt
+++ b/pkgs/sage-conf/VERSION.txt
@@ -1 +1 @@
-9.8.beta7
+9.8.rc0
diff --git a/pkgs/sage-conf_pypi/VERSION.txt b/pkgs/sage-conf_pypi/VERSION.txt
index a7d9d0225f4..86e67536ed2 100644
--- a/pkgs/sage-conf_pypi/VERSION.txt
+++ b/pkgs/sage-conf_pypi/VERSION.txt
@@ -1 +1 @@
-9.8.beta7
+9.8.rc0
diff --git a/pkgs/sage-docbuild/VERSION.txt b/pkgs/sage-docbuild/VERSION.txt
index a7d9d0225f4..86e67536ed2 100644
--- a/pkgs/sage-docbuild/VERSION.txt
+++ b/pkgs/sage-docbuild/VERSION.txt
@@ -1 +1 @@
-9.8.beta7
+9.8.rc0
diff --git a/pkgs/sage-setup/VERSION.txt b/pkgs/sage-setup/VERSION.txt
index a7d9d0225f4..86e67536ed2 100644
--- a/pkgs/sage-setup/VERSION.txt
+++ b/pkgs/sage-setup/VERSION.txt
@@ -1 +1 @@
-9.8.beta7
+9.8.rc0
diff --git a/pkgs/sage-sws2rst/VERSION.txt b/pkgs/sage-sws2rst/VERSION.txt
index a7d9d0225f4..86e67536ed2 100644
--- a/pkgs/sage-sws2rst/VERSION.txt
+++ b/pkgs/sage-sws2rst/VERSION.txt
@@ -1 +1 @@
-9.8.beta7
+9.8.rc0
diff --git a/pkgs/sagemath-categories/VERSION.txt b/pkgs/sagemath-categories/VERSION.txt
index a7d9d0225f4..86e67536ed2 100644
--- a/pkgs/sagemath-categories/VERSION.txt
+++ b/pkgs/sagemath-categories/VERSION.txt
@@ -1 +1 @@
-9.8.beta7
+9.8.rc0
diff --git a/pkgs/sagemath-environment/VERSION.txt b/pkgs/sagemath-environment/VERSION.txt
index a7d9d0225f4..86e67536ed2 100644
--- a/pkgs/sagemath-environment/VERSION.txt
+++ b/pkgs/sagemath-environment/VERSION.txt
@@ -1 +1 @@
-9.8.beta7
+9.8.rc0
diff --git a/pkgs/sagemath-objects/VERSION.txt b/pkgs/sagemath-objects/VERSION.txt
index a7d9d0225f4..86e67536ed2 100644
--- a/pkgs/sagemath-objects/VERSION.txt
+++ b/pkgs/sagemath-objects/VERSION.txt
@@ -1 +1 @@
-9.8.beta7
+9.8.rc0
diff --git a/pkgs/sagemath-repl/VERSION.txt b/pkgs/sagemath-repl/VERSION.txt
index a7d9d0225f4..86e67536ed2 100644
--- a/pkgs/sagemath-repl/VERSION.txt
+++ b/pkgs/sagemath-repl/VERSION.txt
@@ -1 +1 @@
-9.8.beta7
+9.8.rc0
diff --git a/src/VERSION.txt b/src/VERSION.txt
index a7d9d0225f4..86e67536ed2 100644
--- a/src/VERSION.txt
+++ b/src/VERSION.txt
@@ -1 +1 @@
-9.8.beta7
+9.8.rc0
diff --git a/src/bin/sage-version.sh b/src/bin/sage-version.sh
index 8f36e110c23..0779048bed8 100644
--- a/src/bin/sage-version.sh
+++ b/src/bin/sage-version.sh
@@ -4,6 +4,6 @@
 # which stops "setup.py develop" from rewriting it as a Python file.
 :
 # This file is auto-generated by the sage-update-version script, do not edit!
-SAGE_VERSION='9.8.beta7'
-SAGE_RELEASE_DATE='2023-01-18'
-SAGE_VERSION_BANNER='SageMath version 9.8.beta7, Release Date: 2023-01-18'
+SAGE_VERSION='9.8.rc0'
+SAGE_RELEASE_DATE='2023-01-29'
+SAGE_VERSION_BANNER='SageMath version 9.8.rc0, Release Date: 2023-01-29'
diff --git a/src/sage/version.py b/src/sage/version.py
index f36e3195171..a0cfa396c75 100644
--- a/src/sage/version.py
+++ b/src/sage/version.py
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 # Sage version information for Python scripts
 # This file is auto-generated by the sage-update-version script, do not edit!
-version = '9.8.beta7'
-date = '2023-01-18'
-banner = 'SageMath version 9.8.beta7, Release Date: 2023-01-18'
+version = '9.8.rc0'
+date = '2023-01-29'
+banner = 'SageMath version 9.8.rc0, Release Date: 2023-01-29'