diff --git a/.prev-version b/.prev-version
index b93b4f20..80bf4d0f 100644
--- a/.prev-version
+++ b/.prev-version
@@ -1 +1 @@
-2.71
+2.72
diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 3d63fd2d..2c75928d 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 GNU Autoconf NEWS - User visible changes.
 
+* Noteworthy changes in release ?.? (????-??-??) [?]
+
+
 * Noteworthy changes in release 2.72 (2023-12-22) [release]
 
 ** Backward incompatibilities
diff --git a/cfg.mk b/cfg.mk
index aef751a6..697f8be1 100644
--- a/cfg.mk
+++ b/cfg.mk
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ update-release-year:
 .PHONY: update-release-year
 
 # Prevent incorrect NEWS edits.
-old_NEWS_hash = 18aef204e16f6fe9487ab79ca2556ab4
+old_NEWS_hash = 20f602e498b46edc50ce5bc31aeb58fc
 
 # Update autoconf-latest.tar.* symlinks during 'make stable/beta'.
 GNUPLOADFLAGS = --symlink-regex