diff --git a/ares/RELEASE-NOTES b/ares/RELEASE-NOTES
index 8f1de7cfe..04247400e 100644
--- a/ares/RELEASE-NOTES
+++ b/ares/RELEASE-NOTES
@@ -1,20 +1,10 @@
-This is what's new and changed in the c-ares 1.5.3 release:
+This is what's new and changed in the c-ares 1.5.4 release:
 
- o fix adig sample application compilation failure on some systems
- o fix pkg-config reporting of private libraries needed for static linking
- o fallback to gettimeofday when monotonic clock is unavailable at run-time
- o ares_gethostbyname() fallback from AAA to A records with CNAME present
- o allow --enable-largefile and --disable-largefile configurations
- o configure process no longer needs nor checks size of curl_off_t
- o library will now be built with _REENTRANT symbol defined if needed
- o Improved configure detection of number of arguments for getservbyport_r
- o Improved query-ID randomness
- o Validate that DNS response address matches the request address
- o fix acountry sample application compilation failure on some systems
+ o 
 
 Thanks go to these friendly people for their efforts and contributions:
 
- Brad House, Yang Tse, Phil Blundell, Tofu Linden, George Neill
+ 
  and obviously Daniel Stenberg
 
 Have fun!
diff --git a/ares/ares_version.h b/ares/ares_version.h
index 8f3a088f6..de7b972f0 100644
--- a/ares/ares_version.h
+++ b/ares/ares_version.h
@@ -5,11 +5,11 @@
 
 #define ARES_VERSION_MAJOR 1
 #define ARES_VERSION_MINOR 5
-#define ARES_VERSION_PATCH 3
+#define ARES_VERSION_PATCH 4
 #define ARES_VERSION ((ARES_VERSION_MAJOR<<16)|\
                        (ARES_VERSION_MINOR<<8)|\
                        (ARES_VERSION_PATCH))
-#define ARES_VERSION_STR "1.5.3-CVS"
+#define ARES_VERSION_STR "1.5.4-CVS"
 
 #ifdef  __cplusplus
 extern "C" {