diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index a9e46f7bde..03456a0c0a 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+4.0
+
+
 3.10
  * Upgrade metrics-reporter dependencies (CASSANDRA-12089)
  * Tune compaction thread count via nodetool (CASSANDRA-12248)
diff --git a/NEWS.txt b/NEWS.txt
index 9ab7c26fc6..e1e952bd7a 100644
--- a/NEWS.txt
+++ b/NEWS.txt
@@ -13,6 +13,16 @@ restore snapshots created with the previous major version using the
 'sstableloader' tool. You can upgrade the file format of your snapshots
 using the provided 'sstableupgrade' tool.
 
+4.0
+===
+
+New features
+------------
+
+Upgrading
+---------
+
+
 3.10
 ====
 
diff --git a/build.xml b/build.xml
index 18088086a7..21cbc85ca8 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="3.10"/>
+    <property name="base.version" value="4.0"/>
     <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"/>