diff --git a/RELNOTES b/RELNOTES
index 5d6fee4ac..cf6510d44 100644
--- a/RELNOTES
+++ b/RELNOTES
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 firejail (0.9.79) baseline; urgency=low
-  * work in progress
+  * work in progress: 0.9.80-rc1
   * security: --profile=FILE with just a filename has security implications
     and should be highly discouraged; a full or relative file path is required
     for --profile=filename (#6896)
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ firejail (0.9.79) baseline; urgency=low
   * new profiles: srb2 (#6996)
   * new profiles: zen, zen-bin, zen-browser (#7029)
   * cleanup various files (including RELNOTES) after release 0.9.78
- -- netblue30 <netblue30@yahoo.com>  Sat, 3 Jan 2026 11:00:00 -0500
+ -- netblue30 <netblue30@yahoo.com>  Sat, 28 Feb 2026 07:00:00 -0500
 
 firejail (0.9.78) baseline; urgency=low
   * feature: add arg-max-count / arg-max-len to firejail.config (#4633 #6878)
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index b00470732..18fb2257e 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #! /bin/sh
 # Guess values for system-dependent variables and create Makefiles.
-# Generated by GNU Autoconf 2.72 for firejail 0.9.79.
+# Generated by GNU Autoconf 2.72 for firejail 0.9.80-rc1.
 #
 # Report bugs to <https://github.com/netblue30/firejail/issues>.
 #
@@ -603,8 +603,8 @@ MAKEFLAGS=
 # Identity of this package.
 PACKAGE_NAME='firejail'
 PACKAGE_TARNAME='firejail'
-PACKAGE_VERSION='0.9.79'
-PACKAGE_STRING='firejail 0.9.79'
+PACKAGE_VERSION='0.9.80-rc1'
+PACKAGE_STRING='firejail 0.9.80-rc1'
 PACKAGE_BUGREPORT='https://github.com/netblue30/firejail/issues'
 PACKAGE_URL='https://firejail.wordpress.com'
 
@@ -1311,7 +1311,7 @@ if test "$ac_init_help" = "long"; then
   # Omit some internal or obsolete options to make the list less imposing.
   # This message is too long to be a string in the A/UX 3.1 sh.
   cat <<_ACEOF
-'configure' configures firejail 0.9.79 to adapt to many kinds of systems.
+'configure' configures firejail 0.9.80-rc1 to adapt to many kinds of systems.
 
 Usage: $0 [OPTION]... [VAR=VALUE]...
 
@@ -1373,7 +1373,7 @@ fi
 
 if test -n "$ac_init_help"; then
   case $ac_init_help in
-     short | recursive ) echo "Configuration of firejail 0.9.79:";;
+     short | recursive ) echo "Configuration of firejail 0.9.80-rc1:";;
    esac
   cat <<\_ACEOF
 
@@ -1495,7 +1495,7 @@ fi
 test -n "$ac_init_help" && exit $ac_status
 if $ac_init_version; then
   cat <<\_ACEOF
-firejail configure 0.9.79
+firejail configure 0.9.80-rc1
 generated by GNU Autoconf 2.72
 
 Copyright (C) 2023 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
@@ -1607,7 +1607,7 @@ cat >config.log <<_ACEOF
 This file contains any messages produced by compilers while
 running configure, to aid debugging if configure makes a mistake.
 
-It was created by firejail $as_me 0.9.79, which was
+It was created by firejail $as_me 0.9.80-rc1, which was
 generated by GNU Autoconf 2.72.  Invocation command line was
 
   $ $0$ac_configure_args_raw
@@ -5071,7 +5071,7 @@ cat >>$CONFIG_STATUS <<\_ACEOF || ac_write_fail=1
 # report actual input values of CONFIG_FILES etc. instead of their
 # values after options handling.
 ac_log="
-This file was extended by firejail $as_me 0.9.79, which was
+This file was extended by firejail $as_me 0.9.80-rc1, which was
 generated by GNU Autoconf 2.72.  Invocation command line was
 
   CONFIG_FILES    = $CONFIG_FILES
@@ -5127,7 +5127,7 @@ ac_cs_config_escaped=`printf "%s\n" "$ac_cs_config" | sed "s/^ //; s/'/'\\\\\\\\
 cat >>$CONFIG_STATUS <<_ACEOF || ac_write_fail=1
 ac_cs_config='$ac_cs_config_escaped'
 ac_cs_version="\\
-firejail config.status 0.9.79
+firejail config.status 0.9.80-rc1
 configured by $0, generated by GNU Autoconf 2.72,
   with options \\"\$ac_cs_config\\"
 
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 8c54c0898..ae57800a6 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
 #
 
 AC_PREREQ([2.68])
-AC_INIT([firejail], [0.9.79], [https://github.com/netblue30/firejail/issues],
+AC_INIT([firejail], [0.9.80-rc1], [https://github.com/netblue30/firejail/issues],
     [], [https://firejail.wordpress.com])
 
 AC_CONFIG_SRCDIR([src/firejail/main.c])