diff --git a/GUILE-VERSION b/GUILE-VERSION
index a44c254fb..53e329f2c 100644
--- a/GUILE-VERSION
+++ b/GUILE-VERSION
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 # Note: `GUILE_VERSION' is defined in `configure.ac' using `git-version-gen'.
 GUILE_MAJOR_VERSION=2
-GUILE_MINOR_VERSION=3
+GUILE_MINOR_VERSION=9
 GUILE_MICRO_VERSION=0
 
 GUILE_EFFECTIVE_VERSION=3.0
diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 9a171b7fa..c6c2e62c1 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ Please send Guile bug reports to bug-guile@gnu.org.
 
 
 
-Changes in alpha 2.3.1 (since the stable 2.2 series):
+Changes in alpha 2.9.1 (since the stable 2.2 series):
 
 * Notable changes
 
@@ -20,11 +20,13 @@ of "eval" written in C, as in the days of Guile 1.8.
 See "Just-In-Time Native Code" in the manual, for more information.  JIT
 compilation will be enabled automatically and transparently.  To disable
 JIT compilation, configure Guile with `--enable-jit=no' or
-`--disable-jit'.  See `./configure --help' for more.
+`--disable-jit'.  The default is `--enable-jit=auto', which enables the
+JIT if it is available.  See `./configure --help' for more.
 
 In this release, JIT compilation is enabled only on x86-64.  In future
 prereleases support will be added for all architectures supported by GNU
-lightning.
+lightning.  Intrepid users on other platforms can try passing
+`--enable-jit=yes' to see the state of JIT on their platform.
 
 ** Lower-level bytecode
 
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 7b61e105c..c9c8dd1d0 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ License along with Guile.  If not, see
 AC_PREREQ(2.61)
 
 AC_INIT([GNU Guile],
-        m4_esyscmd([build-aux/git-version-gen --match v2.3.\* .tarball-version]),
+        m4_esyscmd([build-aux/git-version-gen --match v2.9.\* .tarball-version]),
         [bug-guile@gnu.org])
 AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR([build-aux])
 AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR([m4])