diff --git a/build.xml b/build.xml
index e3ba6ce1c2..42d5e73cf3 100644
--- a/build.xml
+++ b/build.xml
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@
     <property name="test.name" value="*Test"/>
     <property name="test.unit.src" value="${test.dir}/unit"/>
     <property name="dist.dir" value="${build.dir}/dist"/>
-    <property name="version" value="0.5.0-beta2"/>
+    <property name="version" value="0.5.0-rc1"/>
     <property name="final.name" value="${ant.project.name}-${version}"/>
 
     <!-- http://cobertura.sourceforge.net/ -->
diff --git a/interface/cassandra.thrift b/interface/cassandra.thrift
index 8eb6226ef7..cbd25e663f 100644
--- a/interface/cassandra.thrift
+++ b/interface/cassandra.thrift
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ namespace rb CassandraThrift
 # no promises are made other than "if both are equal, you're good."
 # in particular, don't try to parse numeric information out and assume
 # that a "greater" version is a superset of a "smaller" one.
-const string VERSION = "0.5-beta2"
+const string VERSION = "0.5.0-rc1"
 
 
 #
diff --git a/interface/gen-java/org/apache/cassandra/service/Constants.java b/interface/gen-java/org/apache/cassandra/service/Constants.java
index 2228465dd0..28cc0096d7 100644
--- a/interface/gen-java/org/apache/cassandra/service/Constants.java
+++ b/interface/gen-java/org/apache/cassandra/service/Constants.java
@@ -40,6 +40,6 @@ import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
 public class Constants {
 
-  public static final String VERSION = "0.5-beta2";
+  public static final String VERSION = "0.5.0-rc1";
 
 }