diff --git a/GIT_VERSION b/GIT_VERSION
deleted file mode 100644
index 6002f22fa25c9e2fcd8f2467681ebd2aa29cb3c6..0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
--- a/GIT_VERSION
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-$Format:%h$
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..57ad99d1ae1ec483319c3b7895ec789ee9898fa2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+1.9-rc2