diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 67766c8..3b15560 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ dnl Process this file with autoconf to produce a configure script.
 dnl This config.in requires autoconf 2.5 or greater.
 
 AC_PREREQ([2.68])
-AC_INIT([qpdf],[8.0.rc1])
+AC_INIT([qpdf],[8.0.rc2])
 
 AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR([m4])
 AC_CONFIG_FILES([autoconf.mk])
diff --git a/libqpdf/QPDF.cc b/libqpdf/QPDF.cc
index da9cb3d..3a8eaa3 100644
--- a/libqpdf/QPDF.cc
+++ b/libqpdf/QPDF.cc
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 #include <qpdf/QPDF_Null.hh>
 #include <qpdf/QPDF_Dictionary.hh>
 
-std::string QPDF::qpdf_version = "8.0.rc1";
+std::string QPDF::qpdf_version = "8.0.rc2";
 
 static char const* EMPTY_PDF =
     "%PDF-1.3\n"
diff --git a/manual/qpdf-manual.xml b/manual/qpdf-manual.xml
index a937d2d..73d4597 100644
--- a/manual/qpdf-manual.xml
+++ b/manual/qpdf-manual.xml
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 <!ENTITY mdash "&#x2014;">
 <!ENTITY ndash "&#x2013;">
 <!ENTITY nbsp "&#xA0;">
-<!ENTITY swversion "8.0.rc1">
+<!ENTITY swversion "8.0.rc2">
 <!ENTITY lastreleased "February 25, 2018">
 ]>
 <book>