diff --git a/Documentation/RelNotes/1.8.1.txt b/Documentation/RelNotes/1.8.1.txt
index 6aa24c6..fec1a06 100644
--- a/Documentation/RelNotes/1.8.1.txt
+++ b/Documentation/RelNotes/1.8.1.txt
@@ -116,11 +116,17 @@
  * The remote helper interface to interact with subversion
    repositories (one of the GSoC 2012 projects) has been merged.
 
+ * The documentation for git(1) was pointing at a page at an external
+   site for the list of authors that no longer existed.  The link has
+   been updated to point at an alternative site.
+
 
 Performance, Internal Implementation, etc.
 
  * Compilation on Cygwin with newer header files are supported now.
 
+ * A couple of low-level implementation updates on MinGW.
+
  * The logic to generate the initial advertisement from "upload-pack"
    (i.e. what is invoked by "git fetch" on the other side of the
    connection) to list what refs are available in the repository has
diff --git a/GIT-VERSION-GEN b/GIT-VERSION-GEN
index 4bc073c..1a9e4a2 100755
--- a/GIT-VERSION-GEN
+++ b/GIT-VERSION-GEN
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 
 GVF=GIT-VERSION-FILE
-DEF_VER=v1.8.1-rc1
+DEF_VER=v1.8.1-rc2
 
 LF='
 '