diff --git a/META b/META
index f6d3cb7734a30b2e6bf22a4b80997c08f4e64918..6c747c3f5a06714c8ed7385cdb5ad879b990afbd 100644
--- a/META
+++ b/META
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
   Minor:	4
   Micro:        0
   Version:	1.4.0
-  Release:	0.pre8
+  Release:	0.pre9
 ##
 #  When changing API_CURRENT update src/common/slurm_protocol_common.h
 #  with a new SLURM_PROTOCOL_VERSION signifing the old one and the version