diff --git a/.hgtags b/.hgtags
index 2a2266adc93..d28b7b07d36 100644
--- a/.hgtags
+++ b/.hgtags
@@ -151,3 +151,4 @@ d2e1027edde84a02853fcf9790f311f10f46cf0a v2.7a4
 f48756685406e8d0fa9d23d841fceb07e36a5656 v2.7.2rc1
 8527427914a29d895bcb30be76a465143993a793 v2.7.2
 b2c6aff96e1251a4f03cf866e7e75fb8232869f2 v2.7.3rc1
+d46c1973d3c407ecaa6a8ee16d3fad3ef506b51f v2.7.3rc2
diff --git a/Include/patchlevel.h b/Include/patchlevel.h
index 33f922c3385..ba9e14033b3 100644
--- a/Include/patchlevel.h
+++ b/Include/patchlevel.h
@@ -24,10 +24,10 @@
 #define PY_MINOR_VERSION	7
 #define PY_MICRO_VERSION	3
 #define PY_RELEASE_LEVEL	PY_RELEASE_LEVEL_GAMMA
-#define PY_RELEASE_SERIAL	1
+#define PY_RELEASE_SERIAL	2
 
 /* Version as a string */
-#define PY_VERSION      	"2.7.3rc1"
+#define PY_VERSION      	"2.7.3rc2"
 /*--end constants--*/
 
 /* Subversion Revision number of this file (not of the repository). Empty
diff --git a/Lib/distutils/__init__.py b/Lib/distutils/__init__.py
index 83126f679fd..a137950efbf 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/__init__.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/__init__.py
@@ -15,5 +15,5 @@ __revision__ = "$Id$"
 # Updated automatically by the Python release process.
 #
 #--start constants--
-__version__ = "2.7.3rc1"
+__version__ = "2.7.3rc2"
 #--end constants--
diff --git a/Lib/idlelib/idlever.py b/Lib/idlelib/idlever.py
index ea2844db78b..eba4b9fdb3b 100644
--- a/Lib/idlelib/idlever.py
+++ b/Lib/idlelib/idlever.py
@@ -1 +1 @@
-IDLE_VERSION = "2.7.3rc1"
+IDLE_VERSION = "2.7.3rc2"
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 3180a61a5b8..e33c73c467c 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ Python News
 What's New in Python 2.7.3 release candidate 2?
 ===============================================
 
-*Release date: 2012-03-XX*
+*Release date: 2012-03-17*
 
 Library
 -------
diff --git a/Misc/RPM/python-2.7.spec b/Misc/RPM/python-2.7.spec
index 33acc572075..9095efd1d45 100644
--- a/Misc/RPM/python-2.7.spec
+++ b/Misc/RPM/python-2.7.spec
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@
 
 %define name python
 #--start constants--
-%define version 2.7.3rc1
+%define version 2.7.3rc2
 %define libvers 2.7
 #--end constants--
 %define release 1pydotorg