diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 4c4e9ce56..3f7c7345e 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@
 
                                   Changelog
 
+Version 7.9.9-pre1
+
 Daniel (12 Aug 2002)
 - Applied my initial take on making the multi stuff more asynchronous. Connects
   should now return back without "hanging" until it has connected for real.
diff --git a/include/curl/curl.h b/include/curl/curl.h
index 53be2f5b2..6c4722f60 100644
--- a/include/curl/curl.h
+++ b/include/curl/curl.h
@@ -753,8 +753,8 @@ CURLcode curl_global_init(long flags);
 void curl_global_cleanup(void);
 
 /* This is the version number */
-#define LIBCURL_VERSION "7.9.8"
-#define LIBCURL_VERSION_NUM 0x070908
+#define LIBCURL_VERSION "7.9.9-pre1"
+#define LIBCURL_VERSION_NUM 0x070909
 
 /* linked-list structure for the CURLOPT_QUOTE option (and other) */
 struct curl_slist {
diff --git a/src/version.h b/src/version.h
index 67370f5e1..fc93cf0cc 100644
--- a/src/version.h
+++ b/src/version.h
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 #define CURL_NAME "curl"
-#define CURL_VERSION "7.9.8"
+#define CURL_VERSION "7.9.9-pre1"
 #define CURL_ID CURL_NAME " " CURL_VERSION " (" OS ") "