diff --git a/mitogen/__init__.py b/mitogen/__init__.py
index f18c5a90..3af0e6a7 100644
--- a/mitogen/__init__.py
+++ b/mitogen/__init__.py
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ be expected. On the slave, it is built dynamically during startup.
 
 
 #: Library version as a tuple.
-__version__ = (0, 2, 9)
+__version__ = (0, 2, 10, 'rc', 1)
 
 
 #: This is :data:`False` in slave contexts. Previously it was used to prevent
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 34a3ba0a..bd105147 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ def grep_version():
         for line in fp:
             if line.startswith('__version__'):
                 _, _, s = line.partition('=')
-                return '.'.join(map(str, eval(s)))
+                return '%i.%i.%i%s%i' % eval(s)
 
 
 def long_description():