diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 023afd13cdb5556dffc28e4457d094f6ebfcc02c..50b135ef1c706217f0cb6e68721807f9786b21e7 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1002,10 +1002,10 @@ m4_foreach_w([elpa_m4_kind],[real complex],[
 
 echo " "
 echo "***********************************************************************"
-echo "*  This is a the release candidate  ELPA 2017.05.001.rc1              *"
-echo "*  All functionality of the release ELPA 2017.05.001 is already, but  *"
-echo "*  we wait for the end of the merge window, and/or user comments      *"
-echo "*  before the official release is published                           *"
+echo "*  This is a the release candidate  ELPA 2017.05.001.rc2              *"
+echo "*  All functionality of the release ELPA 2017.05.001 is already there.*"
+echo "*  This release candidate reflects, except for maybe smaller bug      *"
+echo "*  corrections, the release of ELPA 2017.05.001                       *"
 echo "***********************************************************************"
 echo " "
 make -f $srcdir/generated_headers.am generated-headers top_srcdir="$srcdir"
diff --git a/elpa.spec b/elpa.spec
index 544ed2143563b29ed7d25f9f9e0989c7ef11b6f7..a4474df426c5013c8f4dedc429ea5ee326809dd0 100644
--- a/elpa.spec
+++ b/elpa.spec
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@
 %endif
 
 Name:           elpa
-Version:        2017.05.001.rc1
+Version:        2017.05.001.rc2
 Release:        1
 Summary:        A massively parallel eigenvector solver
 License:        LGPL-3.0
diff --git a/test_project/configure.ac b/test_project/configure.ac
index e7f7e80013ba09645b72f497bc5c5390540d4811..f84074d14170bc9f335d405feb4c70c3408de63c 100644
--- a/test_project/configure.ac
+++ b/test_project/configure.ac
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 AC_PREREQ([2.69])
-AC_INIT([elpa_test_project],[2017.05.001.rc1], elpa-library@rzg.mpg.de)
-elpaversion="2017.05.001.rc1"
+AC_INIT([elpa_test_project],[2017.05.001.rc2], elpa-library@rzg.mpg.de)
+elpaversion="2017.05.001.rc2"
 AC_CONFIG_SRCDIR([src/test_real.F90])
 
 AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([foreign -Wall subdir-objects])
diff --git a/test_project_2stage/configure.ac b/test_project_2stage/configure.ac
index a4b96b0b7cd0945539c97342a44fb8ec08ba63b1..1e76be1ed0dcc5d364a44bad13d14245c0064a89 100644
--- a/test_project_2stage/configure.ac
+++ b/test_project_2stage/configure.ac
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 AC_PREREQ([2.69])
-AC_INIT([elpa2_test_project],[2017.05.001.rc1], elpa-library@rzg.mpg.de)
-elpaversion="2017.05.001.rc1"
+AC_INIT([elpa2_test_project],[2017.05.001.rc2], elpa-library@rzg.mpg.de)
+elpaversion="2017.05.001.rc2"
 AC_CONFIG_SRCDIR([src/test_real2.F90])
 
 AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([foreign -Wall subdir-objects])