diff --git a/django/__init__.py b/django/__init__.py
index e3989887de..eb72bc5d46 100644
--- a/django/__init__.py
+++ b/django/__init__.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-VERSION = (1, 7, 7, 'final', 0)
+VERSION = (1, 7, 8, 'alpha', 0)
 
 
 def get_version(*args, **kwargs):