diff --git a/Documentation/RelNotes-1.5.6.txt b/Documentation/RelNotes-1.5.6.txt
index b22bfa89a8f1f26e6cd469e84b7715fffae58080..e143d8d61be1bb2fac024b5d5f270b33f4f898d4 100644
--- a/Documentation/RelNotes-1.5.6.txt
+++ b/Documentation/RelNotes-1.5.6.txt
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@ Updates since v1.5.5
 * "git init" now autodetects the case sensitivity of the filesystem and
   sets core.ignorecase accordingly.
 
+* cpio is no longer used; neither "curl" binary (libcurl is still used).
+
 (documentation)
 
 * Many freestanding documentation pages have been converted and made
@@ -110,9 +112,4 @@ Fixes since v1.5.5
 All of the fixes in v1.5.5 maintenance series are included in
 this release, unless otherwise noted.
 
-
---
-exec >/var/tmp/1
-O=v1.5.6-rc3
-echo O=`git describe refs/heads/master`
-git shortlog --no-merges $O..refs/heads/master ^refs/heads/maint
+And there are too numerous small fixes to otherwise note here ;-)
diff --git a/Documentation/git.txt b/Documentation/git.txt
index ee96774009c79881ef79be8bbae65bb191ff7d3c..7414238fe52819689615e57d10f53dd2b29a3cbe 100644
--- a/Documentation/git.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git.txt
@@ -43,6 +43,11 @@ unreleased) version of git, that is available from 'master'
 branch of the `git.git` repository.
 Documentation for older releases are available here:
 
+* link:v1.5.6/git.html[documentation for release 1.5.6]
+
+* release notes for
+  link:RelNotes-1.5.6.txt[1.5.6],
+
 * link:v1.5.5/git.html[documentation for release 1.5.5]
 
 * release notes for
diff --git a/GIT-VERSION-GEN b/GIT-VERSION-GEN
index 3cabc92e7a1f8ce30eb6e5151a4c81c82468bcee..f221447478aea8628c0ab6d098338f7e8630201e 100755
--- a/GIT-VERSION-GEN
+++ b/GIT-VERSION-GEN
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 
 GVF=GIT-VERSION-FILE
-DEF_VER=v1.5.5.GIT
+DEF_VER=v1.5.6.GIT
 
 LF='
 '