diff --git a/TAG b/TAG
index 3b4c8028c74..07c46f93195 100644
--- a/TAG
+++ b/TAG
@@ -1 +1 @@
-2.6.0-rc3
+2.6.1-rc1
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index e70b4523ae7..6a6a3d8e35c 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-2.6.0
+2.6.1
diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index fb08d568cbd..73df378df78 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+daos (2.6.1-1) unstable; urgency=medium
+  [ Phillip Henderson ]
+  * First release candidate for 2.6.1
+
+ -- Phillip Henderson <phillip.henderson@intel.com>  Mon, 09 Sep 2024 08:46:00 -0500
+
 daos (2.6.0-5) unstable; urgency=medium
   [ Tom Nabarro ]
   * Add pciutils runtime dep for daos_server lspci call
diff --git a/utils/rpms/daos.spec b/utils/rpms/daos.spec
index eb85dab4eef..1ae790f8623 100644
--- a/utils/rpms/daos.spec
+++ b/utils/rpms/daos.spec
@@ -14,8 +14,8 @@
 %endif
 
 Name:          daos
-Version:       2.6.0
-Release:       5%{?relval}%{?dist}
+Version:       2.6.1
+Release:       1%{?relval}%{?dist}
 Summary:       DAOS Storage Engine
 
 License:       BSD-2-Clause-Patent
@@ -591,6 +591,9 @@ getent passwd daos_agent >/dev/null || useradd -s /sbin/nologin -r -g daos_agent
 # No files in a shim package
 
 %changelog
+* Mon Sep 09 2024 Phillip Henderson <phillip.henderson@intel.com> 2.6.1-1
+- First release candidate for 2.6.1
+
 * Thu Aug 08 2024 Tom Nabarro <tom.nabarro@intel.com> 2.6.0-5
 - Add pciutils runtime dep for daos_server lspci call
 - Add pciutils-devel build dep for pciutils CGO bindings