diff --git a/.rat-excludes b/.rat-excludes
index 9dc6311947..f41d97a08d 100644
--- a/.rat-excludes
+++ b/.rat-excludes
@@ -30,3 +30,4 @@ doc/cql/CQL*
 build.properties.default
 test/data/legacy-sstables/**
 examples/pig/**
+examples/hadoop_word_count/conf/log4j.properties
diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index c6ae7913b8..3cfd92e80e 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@
  * Move CfDef and KsDef validation out of thrift (CASSANDRA-4037)
  * Fix get_paged_slice (CASSANDRA-4136)
  * CQL3: Support slice with exclusive start and stop (CASSANDRA-3785)
-Merged from 1.0:
+ * support PropertyFileSnitch in bulk loader (CASSANDRA-4145)
  * add auto_snapshot option allowing disabling snapshot before drop/truncate
    (CASSANDRA-3710)
  * allow short snitch names (CASSANDRA-4130)
@@ -75,12 +75,6 @@ Merged from 1.0:
 
 
 1.0.9
-=======
- * (CLI) properly handle quotes in create/update keyspace commands (CASSANDRA-4129)
-
-
-1.0.9
->>>>>>> cassandra-1.0
  * improve index sampling performance (CASSANDRA-4023)
  * always compact away deleted hints immediately after handoff (CASSANDRA-3955)
  * delete hints from dropped ColumnFamilies on handoff instead of
diff --git a/build.xml b/build.xml
index 6786f374a3..286bae032d 100644
--- a/build.xml
+++ b/build.xml
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@
     <property name="debuglevel" value="source,lines,vars"/>
 
     <!-- default version and SCM information -->
-    <property name="base.version" value="1.1.0-beta2"/>
+    <property name="base.version" value="1.1.0-rc1"/>
     <property name="scm.connection" value="scm:git://git.apache.org/cassandra.git"/>
     <property name="scm.developerConnection" value="scm:git://git.apache.org/cassandra.git"/>
     <property name="scm.url" value="http://git-wip-us.apache.org/repos/asf?p=cassandra.git;a=tree"/>
diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index 01bf383fb9..9c795f1bf9 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+cassandra (1.1.0~rc1) unstable; urgency=low
+
+  * New Release Candidate
+
+ -- Sylvain Lebresne <slebresne@apache.org>  Thu, 12 Apr 2012 09:59:27 +0200
+
 cassandra (1.1.0~beta2) unstable; urgency=low
 
   * New beta release
diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/locator/PropertyFileSnitch.java b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/locator/PropertyFileSnitch.java
index 982fbf1e56..65b69e3ad1 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/locator/PropertyFileSnitch.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/cassandra/locator/PropertyFileSnitch.java
@@ -167,6 +167,7 @@ public class PropertyFileSnitch extends AbstractNetworkTopologySnitch
 
         logger.debug("loaded network topology {}", FBUtilities.toString(reloadedMap));
         endpointMap = reloadedMap;
-        StorageService.instance.getTokenMetadata().invalidateCaches();
+        if (StorageService.instance != null) // null check tolerates circular dependency; see CASSANDRA-4145
+            StorageService.instance.getTokenMetadata().invalidateCaches();
     }
 }