diff --git a/.prev-version b/.prev-version
index 38abeb202..cc40bca69 100644
--- a/.prev-version
+++ b/.prev-version
@@ -1 +1 @@
-7.6
+8.0
diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 78445b9ab..d8e23c46e 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 GNU coreutils NEWS                                    -*- outline -*-
 
+* Noteworthy changes in release ?.? (????-??-??) [?]
+
+
 * Noteworthy changes in release 8.0 (2009-10-06) [beta]
 
 ** Bug fixes
diff --git a/cfg.mk b/cfg.mk
index 633fdb08c..5de2f37d5 100644
--- a/cfg.mk
+++ b/cfg.mk
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ bootstrap-tools = autoconf,automake,gnulib,bison
 # Now that we have better tests, make this the default.
 export VERBOSE = yes
 
-old_NEWS_hash = 0d22ab4ad3fedd9cf283b256b61e8080
+old_NEWS_hash = 785e51bc9af87e7eb004f9ba24a0ca27
 
 # Ensure that the list of O_ symbols used to compute O_FULLBLOCK is complete.
 dd = $(srcdir)/src/dd.c