diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index 1f2913cbc2..8fb471a2d3 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-dev
+0.7.0-rc1
  * add strategy options to describe_keyspace output (CASSANDRA-1560)
  * log warning when using randomly generated token (CASSANDRA-1552)
  * re-organize JMX into .db, .net, .internal, .request (CASSANDRA-1217)
diff --git a/build.xml b/build.xml
index a1e9f58928..51710e6f26 100644
--- a/build.xml
+++ b/build.xml
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@
     <property name="test.unit.src" value="${test.dir}/unit"/>
     <property name="test.long.src" value="${test.dir}/long"/>
     <property name="dist.dir" value="${build.dir}/dist"/>
-    <property name="base.version" value="0.7.0-beta2"/>
+    <property name="base.version" value="0.7.0-rc1"/>
     <condition property="version" value="${base.version}">
       <isset property="release"/>
     </condition>
diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index de42796ce7..c0ab3103cf 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+cassandra (0.7.0~rc1) unstable; urgency=low
+
+  * New release candidate.
+
+ -- Eric Evans <eevans@apache.org>  Fri, 22 Oct 2010 17:35:18 -0500
+
 cassandra (0.7.0~beta2) unstable; urgency=low
 
   * New beta release.