diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 8c23748cb18c68ec7c675540d6ef571884c861b5..ff64919108730a83eba8901d997d1743dc9c8b1c 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ dnl Autoconf settings for vlc
 
 AC_COPYRIGHT([Copyright 1999-2022 VLC authors and VideoLAN])
 
-AC_INIT(vlc, 3.0.18)
+AC_INIT(vlc, 3.0.18-rc2)
 VERSION_MAJOR=3
 VERSION_MINOR=0
 VERSION_REVISION=18