diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 90be8096f..9a621c7f6 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+2004-10-11  Rob Adams  <readams@readams.net>
+
+	* configure.in: bump version to 2.9.0.  Add UNSTABLE warning.
+
 2004-10-11  Rob Adams  <readams@readams.net>
 
 	* NEWS, README: Metacity 2.8.6 (stable release)
diff --git a/configure.in b/configure.in
index 5339a6340..0101a0cdb 100644
--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -3,10 +3,7 @@ AC_INIT(src/display.c)
 
 AM_CONFIG_HEADER(config.h)
 
-# we'll hold the 2.8.x versioning for GNOME 2.8, it was also used
-# for GNOME 2.6, then after GNOME 2.8 we'll have the numbers synced
-# with GNOME
-AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE(metacity, 2.8.6)
+AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE(metacity, 2.9.0)
 
 # Honor aclocal flags
 ACLOCAL="$ACLOCAL $ACLOCAL_FLAGS"
@@ -481,4 +478,5 @@ metacity-$VERSION:
 	Render:                   ${have_xrender}
         Deprecated config dialog: ${enable_config_dialog}
 "
-# echo "This is the UNSTABLE branch of metacity, use 2.8.1.x for stable (gnome-2-6 branch in CVS)"
+echo "This is the UNSTABLE branch of metacity"
+echo "Use 2.8.x (where x > 5) for stable (gnome-2-8 branch in CVS)"