diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index 2a683af48d..6dd4127dc0 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-5.0.0-alpha-20210401
+5.0.0-beta-20210815
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 6909456585..b46718dc8b 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([foreign subdir-objects])
 # Define date of package, etc. Could be useful in auto-generated
 # documentation.
 PACKAGE_YEAR=2021
-PACKAGE_DATE="04/01"
+PACKAGE_DATE="08/15"
 
 abs_top_srcdir=`AS_DIRNAME([$0])`