diff --git a/.version b/.version
index 18fc8443eecf..6879fa566dd8 100644
--- a/.version
+++ b/.version
@@ -1 +1 @@
-16.09
\ No newline at end of file
+17.03
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/release-notes.xml b/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/release-notes.xml
index 31a7ae04a4f5..20d3f74f94b4 100644
--- a/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/release-notes.xml
+++ b/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/release-notes.xml
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
This section lists the release notes for each stable version of NixOS
and current unstable revision.
+
diff --git a/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-1703.xml b/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-1703.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..c0fa4388a2ad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-1703.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+
+
+Release 17.03 (“XXX”, 2017/03/??)
+
+In addition to numerous new and upgraded packages, this release
+has the following highlights:
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+The following new services were added since the last release:
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+When upgrading from a previous release, please be aware of the
+following incompatible changes:
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Other notable improvements:
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+