diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index d10c536c..fda5a98d 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-Noteworthy changes in version 1.18.1 (unreleased)
+Noteworthy changes in version 1.19.0 (unreleased)
 -------------------------------------------------
 
  * New context flag "no-auto-check-trustdb".  [T6261]
@@ -59,6 +59,8 @@ Noteworthy changes in version 1.18.1 (unreleased)
  qt: EncryptArchiveJob                      NEW.
  qt: Protocol::encryptArchiveJob            NEW.
 
+ Release-info: https://dev.gnupg.org/T6341
+
 
 Noteworthy changes in version 1.18.0 (2022-08-10)
 -------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index cee1781d..dfcaac31 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -31,8 +31,8 @@ min_automake_version="1.14"
 # for the LT versions.
 m4_define([mym4_package],[gpgme])
 m4_define([mym4_major], [1])
-m4_define([mym4_minor], [18])
-m4_define([mym4_micro], [1])
+m4_define([mym4_minor], [19])
+m4_define([mym4_micro], [0])
 
 # Below is m4 magic to extract and compute the git revision number,
 # the decimalized short revision number, a beta version string and a