diff --git a/.prev-version b/.prev-version
index bcd0f91..8c26915 100644
--- a/.prev-version
+++ b/.prev-version
@@ -1 +1 @@
-2.8.7
+2.9
diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index bdb2681..0e42975 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 GNU diffutils NEWS                                    -*- outline -*-
 
+* Noteworthy changes in release ?.? (????-??-??) [?]
+
+
 * Noteworthy changes in release 2.9 (2010-02-11) [stable]
 
 ** New features
diff --git a/cfg.mk b/cfg.mk
index 76d1c8f..81eaa5b 100644
--- a/cfg.mk
+++ b/cfg.mk
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ bootstrap-tools = autoconf,automake,gnulib
 # Now that we have better tests, make this the default.
 export VERBOSE = yes
 
-old_NEWS_hash = 2818b0b02db90637e84a2f85d1932590
+old_NEWS_hash = 5ce999f299bd2e9f44cbfef49015b45f
 
 # Tell maint.mk's syntax-check rules that diff gets config.h directly or
 # via diff.h or system.h.