diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 1a78f41a30ab6b23de6b672b064437edea307a66..8892486eea12fd2e826d6fe397a0d12afdab7f19 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ dnl Copyright (c) 2004-2006, Roger Dingledine, Nick Mathewson
 dnl Copyright (c) 2007-2015, The Tor Project, Inc.
 dnl See LICENSE for licensing information
 
-AC_INIT([tor],[0.2.8.1-alpha])
+AC_INIT([tor],[0.2.8.1-alpha-dev])
 AC_CONFIG_SRCDIR([src/or/main.c])
 AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR([m4])
 AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE
diff --git a/contrib/win32build/tor-mingw.nsi.in b/contrib/win32build/tor-mingw.nsi.in
index d5866aadecab45a44f535eb2d2909abf06ad36d3..9a4de0ab086fc27acfb9939466067a3699dee481 100644
--- a/contrib/win32build/tor-mingw.nsi.in
+++ b/contrib/win32build/tor-mingw.nsi.in
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 !include "LogicLib.nsh"
 !include "FileFunc.nsh"
 !insertmacro GetParameters
-!define VERSION "0.2.8.1-alpha"
+!define VERSION "0.2.8.1-alpha-dev"
 !define INSTALLER "tor-${VERSION}-win32.exe"
 !define WEBSITE "https://www.torproject.org/"
 !define LICENSE "LICENSE"
diff --git a/src/win32/orconfig.h b/src/win32/orconfig.h
index 7c6159ed5c25e078db0d5829ea5726408d73762d..0c02b19de1cb3fd53f0af6418792c4ca30dd22c1 100644
--- a/src/win32/orconfig.h
+++ b/src/win32/orconfig.h
@@ -232,7 +232,7 @@
 #define USING_TWOS_COMPLEMENT
 
 /* Version number of package */
-#define VERSION "0.2.8.1-alpha"
+#define VERSION "0.2.8.1-alpha-dev"