diff --git a/.bumpversion.cfg b/.bumpversion.cfg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e7f24a3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.bumpversion.cfg
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+[bumpversion]
+current_version = 4.3.0rc1
+commit = True
+tag = True
+parse = (?P<major>\d+)\.(?P<minor>\d+)\.(?P<patch>\d+)(?P<releaselevel>[a-z\d]+)?
+serialize = 
+	{major}.{minor}.{patch}{releaselevel}
+	{major}.{minor}.{patch}
+
+[bumpversion:file:billiard/__init__.py]
+
+[bumpversion:file:README.rst]
diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index d666624..04410d7 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,13 @@
+4.3.0rc1 - 2026-02-26
+--------------------
+- Fix pytest deprecation warning (#440)
+- Make einfo compatible with inspect (fixes #176) (#392)
+- Update CI workflow to use Python 3.10 and above (#441)
+- Update tox.ini to remove older Python versions (#442)
+- Fix macOS fork-safety crash: default to spawn on darwin (#443)
+- Prepare for (pre) release: v4.3.0rc1 (#445)
+
+
 4.2.4 - 2025-11-30
 --------------------
 - Eliminate usage of 'return' in 'finally' blocks (#438)
diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index ec04f70..47a8ff9 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ billiard
 
 |build-status-lin| |build-status-win| |license| |wheel| |pyversion| |pyimp|
 
-:Version: 4.2.4
+:Version: 4.3.0rc1
 :Web: https://billiard.readthedocs.io
 :Download: https://pypi.org/project/billiard/
 :Source: https://github.com/celery/billiard/
diff --git a/billiard/__init__.py b/billiard/__init__.py
index 79f7896..cff66f3 100644
--- a/billiard/__init__.py
+++ b/billiard/__init__.py
@@ -18,12 +18,12 @@
 #
 
 
+import re
 import sys
 
 from . import context
 
-VERSION = (4, 2, 4)
-__version__ = '.'.join(map(str, VERSION[0:4])) + "".join(VERSION[4:])
+__version__ = '4.3.0rc1'
 __author__ = 'R Oudkerk / Python Software Foundation'
 __author_email__ = 'python-dev@python.org'
 __maintainer__ = 'Asif Saif Uddin'
@@ -33,6 +33,14 @@
 
 # -eof meta-
 
+# bumpversion can only search for {current_version}
+# so we have to parse the version here.
+_temp = re.match(
+    r'(\d+)\.(\d+)\.(\d+)(.+)?', __version__).groups()
+VERSION = (int(_temp[0]), int(_temp[1]), int(_temp[2]), _temp[3] or '')
+del _temp
+del re
+
 #
 # Copy stuff from default context
 #
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index d1e9a88..961ffe1 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -46,7 +46,6 @@
 
 import re
 re_meta = re.compile(r'__(\w+?)__\s*=\s*(.*)')
-re_vers = re.compile(r'VERSION\s*=\s*\((.*?)\)')
 re_doc = re.compile(r'^"""(.+?)"""')
 rq = lambda s: s.strip("\"'")
 
@@ -56,16 +55,10 @@ def add_default(m):
     return ((attr_name, rq(attr_value)), )
 
 
-def add_version(m):
-    v = list(map(rq, m.groups()[0].split(', ')))
-    return (('VERSION', '.'.join(v[0:4]) + ''.join(v[4:])), )
-
-
 def add_doc(m):
     return (('doc', m.groups()[0]), )
 
 pats = {re_meta: add_default,
-        re_vers: add_version,
         re_doc: add_doc}
 here = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__))
 meta_fh = open(os.path.join(here, 'billiard/__init__.py'))
@@ -193,7 +186,7 @@ def run_setup(with_extensions=True):
     packages = setuptools.find_packages(exclude=['ez_setup', 't', 't.*'])
     setuptools.setup(
         name='billiard',
-        version=meta['VERSION'],
+        version=meta['version'],
         description=meta['doc'],
         long_description=long_description,
         packages=packages,