diff --git a/META b/META
index cdd293e38bcc62f5b83d805b2e04caae5dc2d6d8..ec47cf0b5f990c4ab2d3793fc7b6e9dae7fa294e 100644
--- a/META
+++ b/META
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
   Minor:	5
   Micro:	0
   Version:	2.5.0
-  Release:	0.pre3
+  Release:	0.rc1
 
 ##
 #  When changing API_CURRENT update src/common/slurm_protocol_common.h