diff --git a/.bumpversion.cfg b/.bumpversion.cfg
deleted file mode 100644
index 9c57d0c..0000000
--- a/.bumpversion.cfg
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,7 +0,0 @@
-[bumpversion]
-current_version = 1.2.0
-message = release: Bump version {current_version} to {new_version}
-tag_name = {new_version}
-
-[bumpversion:file:backend/VERSION]
-
diff --git a/backend/CHANGELOG.md b/backend/CHANGELOG.md
index b0cb9b1..6ebfad5 100644
--- a/backend/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/backend/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/).
 <!-- ### Fixed -->
 
 
-## Unreleased [2.0.0 - 2019-04-XX]
+## [2.0.0rc1 - 2019-04-13]
 ### Changed
 * require Elasticsearch 6.x
 * move data structure to single document per index 
diff --git a/backend/README.md b/backend/README.md
index 09049d4..d47242a 100644
--- a/backend/README.md
+++ b/backend/README.md
@@ -103,8 +103,3 @@ To develop appenlight frontend:
     npm install
     grunt watch
 
-
-Tagging release
-===============
-
-    bumpversion --current-version 1.1.1 minor --verbose --tag --commit --dry-run
diff --git a/backend/VERSION b/backend/VERSION
deleted file mode 100644
index 26aaba0..0000000
--- a/backend/VERSION
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-1.2.0
diff --git a/backend/setup.py b/backend/setup.py
index 7fabc4e..45d9a23 100644
--- a/backend/setup.py
+++ b/backend/setup.py
@@ -33,9 +33,6 @@ def _get_meta_var(name, data, callback_handler=None):
 with open(os.path.join(here, "src", "appenlight", "__init__.py"), "r") as _meta:
     _metadata = _meta.read()
 
-with open(os.path.join(here, "VERSION"), "r") as _meta_version:
-    __version__ = _meta_version.read().strip()
-
 __license__ = _get_meta_var("__license__", _metadata)
 __author__ = _get_meta_var("__author__", _metadata)
 __url__ = _get_meta_var("__url__", _metadata)
@@ -45,18 +42,20 @@ found_packages.append("appenlight.migrations.versions")
 setup(
     name="appenlight",
     description="appenlight",
-    long_description=README + "\n\n" + CHANGES,
+    long_description=README,
     classifiers=[
         "Programming Language :: Python",
         "Framework :: Pylons",
         "Topic :: Internet :: WWW/HTTP",
         "Topic :: Internet :: WWW/HTTP :: WSGI :: Application",
     ],
-    version=__version__,
+    version='2.0.0rc1',
     license=__license__,
     author=__author__,
     url=__url__,
-    keywords="web wsgi bfg pylons pyramid",
+    keywords="web wsgi bfg pylons pyramid flask django monitoring apm instrumentation appenlight",
+    python_requires=">=3.5",
+    long_description_content_type="text/markdown",
     package_dir={"": "src"},
     packages=found_packages,
     include_package_data=True,