diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 055b450b61a..b08c0fef346 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -55,6 +55,9 @@ included in the vX.Y.Z section and be denoted as:
    (** also appeared: A.B.C)  -- indicating that this item was previously
                                  included in release version vA.B.C.
 
+3.1.5 -- October, 2019
+----------------------
+
 3.1.4 -- April, 2019
 --------------------
 
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index 583f2b5c2a1..5eb0b5a7a75 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
 
 major=3
 minor=1
-release=4
+release=5
 
 # greek is generally used for alpha or beta release tags.  If it is
 # non-empty, it will be appended to the version number.  It does not
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ release=4
 # requirement is that it must be entirely printable ASCII characters
 # and have no white space.
 
-greek=rc2
+greek=a1
 
 # If repo_rev is empty, then the repository version number will be
 # obtained during "make dist" via the "git describe --tags --always"