diff --git a/Documentation/RelNotes/2.39.3.txt b/Documentation/RelNotes/2.39.3.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..dddff53627
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/RelNotes/2.39.3.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+Git v2.39.3 Release Notes
+=========================
+
+This release is primarily to merge fixes accumulated on the 'master'
+front to prepare for 2.40 release that are still relevant to 2.39.x
+maintenance track.
+
+Fixes since v2.39.2
+-------------------
+
+ * Stop running win+VS build by default.
+
+ * CI updates.  We probably want a clean-up to move the long shell
+   script embedded in yaml file into a separate file, but that can
+   come later.
+
+ * Avoid unnecessary builds in CI, with settings configured in
+   ci-config.
+
+ * Redefining system functions for a few functions did not follow our
+   usual "implement git_foo() and #define foo(args) git_foo(args)"
+   pattern, which has broken build for some folks.
+
+ * Deal with a few deprecation warning from cURL library.
+
+ * Newer regex library macOS stopped enabling GNU-like enhanced BRE,
+   where '\(A\|B\)' works as alternation, unless explicitly asked with
+   the REG_ENHANCED flag.  "git grep" now can be compiled to do so, to
+   retain the old behaviour.
+
+ * When given a pattern that matches an empty string at the end of a
+   line, the code to parse the "git diff" line-ranges fell into an
+   infinite loop, which has been corrected.
+
+ * Fix the sequence to fsync $GIT_DIR/packed-refs file that forgot to
+   flush its output to the disk..
+
+ * "git diff --relative" did not mix well with "git diff --ext-diff",
+   which has been corrected.
+
+ * The logic to see if we are using the "cone" mode by checking the
+   sparsity patterns has been tightened to avoid mistaking a pattern
+   that names a single file as specifying a cone.
+
+ * Doc update for environment variables set when hooks are invoked.
+
+ * Document ORIG_HEAD a bit more.
+
+ * "git ls-tree --format='%(path) %(path)' $tree $path" showed the
+   path three times, which has been corrected.
+
+ * Document that "branch -f <branch>" disables only the safety to
+   avoid recreating an existing branch.
+
+ * Clarify how "checkout -b/-B" and "git branch [-f]" are similar but
+   different in the documentation.
+
+Also contains minor documentation updates and code clean-ups.
diff --git a/GIT-VERSION-GEN b/GIT-VERSION-GEN
index 674110ca3b..2e4c5bd1b2 100755
--- a/GIT-VERSION-GEN
+++ b/GIT-VERSION-GEN
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 
 GVF=GIT-VERSION-FILE
-DEF_VER=v2.39.2
+DEF_VER=v2.39.3-pre
 
 LF='
 '
diff --git a/RelNotes b/RelNotes
index 25a76d390e..e32fcea009 120000
--- a/RelNotes
+++ b/RelNotes
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Documentation/RelNotes/2.39.2.txt
\ No newline at end of file
+Documentation/RelNotes/2.39.3.txt
\ No newline at end of file