diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index bafa37066b1..51a207e3bb9 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 VERSION_MAJOR = 1
-VERSION_MINOR = 9
-PATCHLEVEL = 99
+VERSION_MINOR = 10
+PATCHLEVEL = 0
 VERSION_TWEAK = 0
-EXTRAVERSION =
+EXTRAVERSION = -rc1