diff --git a/.prev-version b/.prev-version
index f225a78a..aedc15bb 100644
--- a/.prev-version
+++ b/.prev-version
@@ -1 +1 @@
-2.5.2
+2.5.3
diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index bb15da58..561122c6 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 NEWS - list of user-visible changes between releases of GNU Libtool
 
+* Noteworthy changes in release ?.? (????-??-??) [?]
+
+
 * Noteworthy changes in release 2.5.3 (2024-09-25) [stable]
 
 ** New features:
diff --git a/cfg.mk b/cfg.mk
index 0e50a4c0..b96bb1c1 100644
--- a/cfg.mk
+++ b/cfg.mk
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ update-release-year:
 		m4/libtool.m4
 
 # Set format of NEWS.
-old_NEWS_hash := 7eb441941399046536c1791faa1a86ee
+old_NEWS_hash := 61ef5bb8af40dc806027f40d99f8c980
 
 manual_title = Portable Dynamic Shared Object Management