diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 5a1f6aa0..58c4f68d 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -85,11 +85,11 @@
 
 """  
 
-MAJOR               = 0
-MINOR               = 1
+MAJOR               = 5
+MINOR               = 0
 MICRO               = 0
-ISRELEASED          = False
-VERSION             = '%d.%d.%d' % (MAJOR, MINOR, MICRO)
+TYPE                = 'rc-alpha'
+VERSION             = '%d.%d.%d%s' % (MAJOR, MINOR, MICRO, TYPE)
 
 package_path       = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__),'clawpack')
 
@@ -139,10 +139,6 @@ def write_version_py(filename=version_file_path):
 version = '%(version)s'
 full_version = '%(full_version)s'
 git_revision = '%(git_revision)s'
-release = %(isrelease)s
-
-if not release:
-    version = full_version
 """
     # Adding the git rev number needs to be done inside
     # write_version_py(), otherwise the import of clawpack.version messes
@@ -157,14 +153,10 @@ def write_version_py(filename=version_file_path):
     else:
         GIT_REVISION = "Unknown"
 
-    if not ISRELEASED:
-        FULLVERSION += '.dev-' + GIT_REVISION[:7]
-
     with open(filename, 'w') as a:
         a.write(cnt % {'version': VERSION,
                        'full_version' : FULLVERSION,
-                       'git_revision' : GIT_REVISION,
-                       'isrelease': str(ISRELEASED)})
+                       'git_revision' : GIT_REVISION})
 
     del sys.path[0]
     os.chdir(old_path)
@@ -239,6 +231,11 @@ def dev_setup(subpackages):
                   "waiting 5s and trying again [fail %d/20]" % fails
                 time.sleep(5)
 
+        print "Git development environment initialized for:", package
+
+
+def make_symlinks(subpackages):
+    for package, package_dict in subpackages.items():
         for subpackage, src_dir in package_dict['python_src_dir']:
             symlink(os.path.join(package, src_dir, subpackage),
                     os.path.join('clawpack', subpackage))
@@ -246,7 +243,6 @@ def dev_setup(subpackages):
             symlink(os.path.join(package, package_dict['fortran_src_dir']), 
                     os.path.join('clawpack', package, 'src'))
                 
-        print "Git development environment initialized for:", package
 
 def setup_package(setup_dict, subpackages):
     from numpy.distutils.core import setup
@@ -262,6 +258,7 @@ def setup_package(setup_dict, subpackages):
     try:
         if os.path.exists('.git'):
             dev_setup(subpackages)
+        make_symlinks(subpackages)
         setup(configuration=configuration,
               **setup_dict)
     finally: