diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 7beaa872bd35..20683be357d3 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-Changes between 1.1.x and 1.2.0-git:
+Changes between 1.1.x and 1.2.0-pre1:
 ------------------------------------
 
 Important notes:
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 9db6f6abba9c..b688d8f80646 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -2,12 +2,12 @@ dnl Autoconf settings for vlc
 
 AC_COPYRIGHT([Copyright 2002-2011 the VideoLAN team])
 
-AC_INIT(vlc, 1.2.0-git)
+AC_INIT(vlc, 1.2.0-pre1)
 VERSION_MAJOR=1
 VERSION_MINOR=2
 VERSION_REVISION=0
 VERSION_EXTRA=0
-VERSION_DEV=git
+VERSION_DEV=pre1
 
 PKGDIR="vlc"
 AC_SUBST(PKGDIR)