diff --git a/Include/patchlevel.h b/Include/patchlevel.h
index 2ad6fb7ab4da..79ddbb7cffed 100644
--- a/Include/patchlevel.h
+++ b/Include/patchlevel.h
@@ -23,11 +23,11 @@
 #define PY_MAJOR_VERSION	2
 #define PY_MINOR_VERSION	6
 #define PY_MICRO_VERSION	0
-#define PY_RELEASE_LEVEL	PY_RELEASE_LEVEL_ALPHA
-#define PY_RELEASE_SERIAL	3
+#define PY_RELEASE_LEVEL	PY_RELEASE_LEVEL_BETA
+#define PY_RELEASE_SERIAL	1
 
 /* Version as a string */
-#define PY_VERSION      	"2.6a3+"
+#define PY_VERSION      	"2.6b1"
 /*--end constants--*/
 
 /* Subversion Revision number of this file (not of the repository) */
diff --git a/Lib/distutils/__init__.py b/Lib/distutils/__init__.py
index e3e32f51bd66..a192357896ca 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/__init__.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/__init__.py
@@ -22,5 +22,5 @@
 #
 
 #--start constants--
-__version__ = "2.6a3"
+__version__ = "2.6b1"
 #--end constants--
diff --git a/Lib/idlelib/idlever.py b/Lib/idlelib/idlever.py
index 6dcab30544e9..5c5edb7b2ad3 100644
--- a/Lib/idlelib/idlever.py
+++ b/Lib/idlelib/idlever.py
@@ -1 +1 @@
-IDLE_VERSION = "2.6a3"
+IDLE_VERSION = "2.6b1"
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 7f5e4f1dfa20..1829cba5f8ec 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ Python News
 What's New in Python 2.6 beta 1?
 ================================
 
-*Release date: XX-June-2008*
+*Release date: 18-June-2008*
 
 Core and Builtins
 -----------------
diff --git a/Misc/RPM/python-2.6.spec b/Misc/RPM/python-2.6.spec
index d6d14d8d72f8..540df8388fa0 100644
--- a/Misc/RPM/python-2.6.spec
+++ b/Misc/RPM/python-2.6.spec
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@
 
 %define name python
 #--start constants--
-%define version 2.6a3
+%define version 2.6b1
 %define libver 2.6
 #--end constants--
 %define release 1pydotorg
diff --git a/README b/README
index 8f53ca43e42d..17e248cf1eeb 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-This is Python version 2.6 alpha 3
-==================================
+This is Python version 2.6 beta 1
+=================================
 
 Copyright (c) 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
 Python Software Foundation.