diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index 8c285f319..7f1c1f4e3 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -97,7 +97,9 @@ SIMD batched shading mode:
 * Batched isnan, isinf, isfinite. #1456 (1.12.4.2)
 * Batched userdata and output placement. #1455 (1.12.4.2)
 * Batched pointcloud functions. #1464 (1.12.4.4)
-* Batched closures (#1500)
+* Batched closures #1500
+* Fix overrunning allocation region in debug common_ancestor_between. #1577
+  (1.12.6.1)
 
 OptiX rendering:
 * Explicitly set the OptiX pipeline stack size. #1254 (1.12.0.0)
@@ -167,6 +169,8 @@ Bug fixes and other improvements (internals):
     * Switch to cone tracing for derivatives. #1543 (1.12.6.0)
 * Fix error that prevented correct typecheck of ternary operator. #1552
   (1.12.6.0)
+* Fix bug where assigning an init-op param its default value as an instance
+  value would get lost. #1578 (1.12.6.1)
 
 Internals/developer concerns:
 * Use the `final` keyword in certain internal classes where applicable.
@@ -235,6 +239,7 @@ Build & test system improvements:
       (1.12.4.1)
     - Make exported cmake configs relocatable by using relative paths. #1466
       (1.12.4.4)
+    - Make the version number be a cmake cache variable. #1579 (1.12.6.1)
 * Dependency version support:
     - Build properly against Cuda 11 and OptiX 7.1. #1232 (1.12.0.1)
       and up to OptiX 7.4 #1559 (1.12.6.0)
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 83cbfef7a..eaf992c70 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ project (OSL VERSION ${OSL_VERSION}
 set (PROJ_NAME ${PROJECT_NAME})    # short name
 string (TOLOWER ${PROJ_NAME} PROJ_NAME_LOWER)  # short name lower case
 string (TOUPPER ${PROJ_NAME} PROJ_NAME_UPPER)  # short name upper case
-set (PROJECT_VERSION_RELEASE_TYPE "beta" CACHE STRING
+set (PROJECT_VERSION_RELEASE_TYPE "RC1" CACHE STRING
     "Build type, for example: dev, beta2, RC1 (empty string for normal release)")
 set (${PROJECT_NAME}_VERSION_RELEASE_TYPE ${PROJECT_VERSION_RELEASE_TYPE})
 set (PROJECT_AUTHORS "Contributors to the Open Shading Language project")
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index bde47b02c..d8412f18e 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -485,14 +485,15 @@ Matthaus G. Chajdas, Clark Chen, Alejandro Conty, Dieter De Baets, Thomas
 Dinges, Mads Drøschler, Luke Emrose, Louis Feng, Mark Final, Henri Fousse,
 Stephen Friedman, Syoyo Fujita, Tim Grant, Larry Gritz, Nicolas Guiard, Euan
 Haahr, Derek Haase, Sven-Hendrik Haase, John Haddon, Niklas Harrysson, Daniel
-Heckenberg, Adrien Herubel, Thiago Ize, Matt Johnson, Ronan Keryell, Chris
-Kulla, Elvic Liang, Max Liani, Adam Martinez, John Mertic, Bastien Montagne,
-Steena Monteiro, Alexis Oblet, Erich Ocean, Mikko Ohtamaa, Jino Park, Alexei
-Pawlow, Jay Reynolds, Declan Russell, Benoit Ruiz, Patrick Scheibe, Alex
-Schworer, Jonathan Scruggs, Sergey Sharybin, Sandip Shukla, Cliff Stein,
-Stephan Steinbach, Luya Tshimbalanga, Esteban Tovagliari, Brecht Van Lommel,
-Alexander von Knorring, Alex Wells, Roman Zulak. (Listed alphabetically; if
-we've left anybody out, it is inadvertent, please let us know.)
+Heckenberg, Chris Hellmuth, Adrien Herubel, Thiago Ize, Matt Johnson, Ronan
+Keryell, Chris Kulla, Elvic Liang, Max Liani, Adam Martinez, John Mertic,
+Bastien Montagne, Steena Monteiro, Alexis Oblet, Erich Ocean, Mikko Ohtamaa,
+Jino Park, Alexei Pawlow, Jay Reynolds, Declan Russell, Benoit Ruiz, Patrick
+Scheibe, Alex Schworer, Jonathan Scruggs, Sergey Sharybin, Sandip Shukla, Mark
+Sisson, Cliff Stein, Stephan Steinbach, Luya Tshimbalanga, Esteban Tovagliari,
+Brecht Van Lommel, Alexander von Knorring, Alex Wells, Roman Zulak. (Listed
+alphabetically; if we've left anybody out, it is inadvertent, please let us
+know.)
 
 We cannot possibly express sufficient gratitude to the managers at Sony
 Pictures Imageworks who allowed this project to proceed, supported it
diff --git a/doc/RELEASING.md b/doc/RELEASING.md
index adec8063c..e041c5aa3 100644
--- a/doc/RELEASING.md
+++ b/doc/RELEASING.md
@@ -144,7 +144,8 @@ branch, and henceforth, any big or compatibility-breaking changes will only be
 committed to main and not backported to the release branch. (Though we are
 loose about this rule during the alpha period and allow continued breaking
 changes in the alpha, but by the time we call it beta, we allow no more
-breaking changes.)
+breaking changes.) Also at this stage, the main branch's CHANGES.md should
+have a heading added at the top for the *next* version.
 
 
 ### Prior to a release
@@ -338,4 +339,8 @@ Odds and ends to do after the tag is pushed and the announcements are sent:
   Language" channel of the ASWF slack. It can be a one-line announcement and
   then just a link to the GitHub release page for this version.
 
-
+- Edit the top-level CMakeList.txt to update the version to the *next*
+  anticipated release on the branch, in order to ensure that anybody building
+  from subsequent patches won't get a release number that advertises itself
+  incorrectly as a prior tagged release. Also edit CHANGES.md to add a new
+  (blank) heading for the next patch or release.