diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 254ce0b0..6ecf1d24 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+2009-02-27  Joerg Wunsch <j.gnu@uriah.heep.sax.de>
+
+	* configure.ac: Prepare for releasing version 5.6.
+
 2009-02-27  Joerg Wunsch <j.gnu@uriah.heep.sax.de>
 
 	Submitted by Ed Okerson:
diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 4614c075..a71c21ec 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ Approximate change log for AVRDUDE by version.
 (For more detailed changes, see the ChangeLog file.)
 
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-Current:
+Version 5.6:
 
   * New devices supported:
 
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 411b55c2..33684023 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@
 # Process this file with autoconf to produce a configure script.
 
 AC_PREREQ(2.57)
-AC_INIT(avrdude, 5.6cvs, avrdude-dev@nongnu.org)
+AC_INIT(avrdude, 5.6, avrdude-dev@nongnu.org)
 
 AC_CANONICAL_BUILD
 AC_CANONICAL_HOST