Preparing for 5.2.4 release.
diff --git a/app/pom.xml b/app/pom.xml
index b6c9d57..7e58466 100644
--- a/app/pom.xml
+++ b/app/pom.xml
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@
     <parent>
         <groupId>org.apache.roller</groupId>
         <artifactId>roller-project</artifactId>
-        <version>5.2.3</version>
+        <version>5.2.4</version>
         <relativePath>../pom.xml</relativePath>
     </parent>
 
diff --git a/assembly-release/pom.xml b/assembly-release/pom.xml
index 7b6f7c7..432fbf3 100644
--- a/assembly-release/pom.xml
+++ b/assembly-release/pom.xml
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
     <parent>
         <groupId>org.apache.roller</groupId>
         <artifactId>roller-project</artifactId>
-        <version>5.2.3</version>
+        <version>5.2.4</version>
         <relativePath>../pom.xml</relativePath>
     </parent>
 
diff --git a/assembly-release/sign-release.sh b/assembly-release/sign-release.sh
index fa5a7e9..385c39d 100755
--- a/assembly-release/sign-release.sh
+++ b/assembly-release/sign-release.sh
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 
-export rcstring="-rc-2"
-export vstring="5.2.3"
+export rcstring="-rc-1"
+export vstring="5.2.4"
 
 # for rc releases we rename the release files
 if [ rcstring != "" ]; then
diff --git a/it-selenium/pom.xml b/it-selenium/pom.xml
index 9fd3093..06d9e52 100644
--- a/it-selenium/pom.xml
+++ b/it-selenium/pom.xml
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@
     <parent>
         <groupId>org.apache.roller</groupId>
         <artifactId>roller-project</artifactId>
-        <version>5.2.3</version>
+        <version>5.2.4</version>
         <relativePath>../pom.xml</relativePath>
     </parent>
 
diff --git a/it-selenium/src/test/resources/roller-jettyrun.properties b/it-selenium/src/test/resources/roller-jettyrun.properties
index ea5c808..4c2f2a5 100644
--- a/it-selenium/src/test/resources/roller-jettyrun.properties
+++ b/it-selenium/src/test/resources/roller-jettyrun.properties
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
 passwds.encryption.enabled=false
 
 # use src copy of themes for read-only access
-themes.dir=target/roller-selenium-tests-5.2.3/themes
+themes.dir=target/roller-selenium-tests-5.2.4/themes
 
 # put work in work dir
 search.index.dir          =target/work/search-index
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index bce05b6..21b70b1 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
     <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
     <groupId>org.apache.roller</groupId>
     <artifactId>roller-project</artifactId>
-    <version>5.2.3</version>
+    <version>5.2.4</version>
     <packaging>pom</packaging>
 
     <prerequisites>
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@
         <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
         <project.reporting.outputEncoding>UTF-8</project.reporting.outputEncoding>
         <derby.version>10.11.1.1</derby.version>
-        <roller.version>5.2.3</roller.version>
+        <roller.version>5.2.4</roller.version>
     </properties>
 
     <modules>