diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index cd1ea5982a7..58dc4562a93 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ release=0
 # requirement is that it must be entirely printable ASCII characters
 # and have no white space.
 
-greek=a1
+greek=rc1
 
 # If repo_rev is empty, then the repository version number will be
 # obtained during "make dist" via the "git describe --tags --always"