diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 3e2fb32dea..a7cc8451d8 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -2,12 +2,14 @@
 Pylint's ChangeLog
 ------------------
 
-What's New in Pylint 3.0.0?
-===========================
+What's New in Pylint 3.0.0-a4?
+==============================
 
 ..
   Put breaking changes here and also in 'doc/whatsnew/3.0.rst'
 
+* This is 2.9.0 with the breaking changes of the future version 3.0.
+
 * Fix the score option not being honored when exporting to JSON
 
   The default setting was to have a score, but it did not work. Now it will give a score at the end of the json:
diff --git a/pylint/__pkginfo__.py b/pylint/__pkginfo__.py
index 40ab475358..5b7b34fb61 100644
--- a/pylint/__pkginfo__.py
+++ b/pylint/__pkginfo__.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 # For details: https://github.com/PyCQA/pylint/blob/master/LICENSE
 from typing import Tuple
 
-__version__ = "2.9.1-dev0"
+__version__ = "3.0.0-a4"
 
 
 def get_numversion_from_version(v: str) -> Tuple:
diff --git a/tbump.toml b/tbump.toml
index 7d932da235..47090a8179 100644
--- a/tbump.toml
+++ b/tbump.toml
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 github_url = "https://github.com/PyCQA/pylint"
 
 [version]
-current = "2.9.1-dev0"
+current = "3.0.0-a4"
 regex = '''
 ^(?P<major>0|[1-9]\d*)
 \.