diff --git a/docs/NEWS b/docs/NEWS
index 12c216bf..86732acc 100644
--- a/docs/NEWS
+++ b/docs/NEWS
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 # $Id$
 
+Version 1.6 ()
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
 Version 1.5 ()
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
diff --git a/serendipity_config.inc.php b/serendipity_config.inc.php
index e98a32c8..c50f594d 100644
--- a/serendipity_config.inc.php
+++ b/serendipity_config.inc.php
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ if (defined('USE_MEMSNAP')) {
 }
 
 // The version string
-$serendipity['version']         = '1.5-beta2';
+$serendipity['version']         = '1.6-alpha1';
 
 // Setting this to 'false' will enable debugging output. All alpa/beta/cvs snapshot versions will emit debug information by default. To increase the debug level (to enable Smarty debugging), set this flag to 'debug'.
 $serendipity['production']      = (preg_match('@\-(alpha|beta|cvs)@', $serendipity['version']) ? false : true);