diff --git a/Include/patchlevel.h b/Include/patchlevel.h
index bbdd67be534b12..951ae4713e9d84 100644
--- a/Include/patchlevel.h
+++ b/Include/patchlevel.h
@@ -22,12 +22,12 @@
 /*--start constants--*/
 #define PY_MAJOR_VERSION	2
 #define PY_MINOR_VERSION	7
-#define PY_MICRO_VERSION	3
-#define PY_RELEASE_LEVEL	PY_RELEASE_LEVEL_FINAL
-#define PY_RELEASE_SERIAL	0
+#define PY_MICRO_VERSION	4
+#define PY_RELEASE_LEVEL	PY_RELEASE_LEVEL_GAMMA
+#define PY_RELEASE_SERIAL	1
 
 /* Version as a string */
-#define PY_VERSION      	"2.7.3+"
+#define PY_VERSION      	"2.7.4rc1"
 /*--end constants--*/
 
 /* Subversion Revision number of this file (not of the repository). Empty
diff --git a/Lib/distutils/__init__.py b/Lib/distutils/__init__.py
index 036062cc337aa0..15b511bee58ce3 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/__init__.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/__init__.py
@@ -15,5 +15,5 @@
 # Updated automatically by the Python release process.
 #
 #--start constants--
-__version__ = "2.7.3"
+__version__ = "2.7.4rc1"
 #--end constants--
diff --git a/Lib/idlelib/idlever.py b/Lib/idlelib/idlever.py
index 72666cb7f2608d..2aea6e026134fd 100644
--- a/Lib/idlelib/idlever.py
+++ b/Lib/idlelib/idlever.py
@@ -1 +1 @@
-IDLE_VERSION = "2.7.3"
+IDLE_VERSION = "2.7.4rc1"
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index f1722469652e39..b8dc1f22e8816e 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 Python News
 +++++++++++
 
-What's New in Python 2.7.4
-==========================
+What's New in Python 2.7.4 release candidate 1
+==============================================
 
-*Release date: XXXX-XX-XX*
+*Release date: 2013-03-23*
 
 Core and Builtins
 -----------------
diff --git a/Misc/RPM/python-2.7.spec b/Misc/RPM/python-2.7.spec
index aad3529b6cf87b..0b62adfe738663 100644
--- a/Misc/RPM/python-2.7.spec
+++ b/Misc/RPM/python-2.7.spec
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@
 
 %define name python
 #--start constants--
-%define version 2.7.3
+%define version 2.7.4rc1
 %define libvers 2.7
 #--end constants--
 %define release 1pydotorg
diff --git a/README b/README
index cead13a4fb08c1..9b3f16eea49631 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-This is Python version 2.7.3
+This is Python version 2.7.4
 ============================
 
 Copyright (c) 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011,