diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 96ce89131..527f913c7 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ set(GZ_CMAKE_VER ${gz-cmake4_VERSION_MAJOR})
 set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 17)
 set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED ON)
 
-gz_configure_project(VERSION_SUFFIX)
+gz_configure_project(VERSION_SUFFIX pre1)
 
 #============================================================================
 # Set project-specific options
diff --git a/Changelog.md b/Changelog.md
index e6028e429..10a6d5368 100644
--- a/Changelog.md
+++ b/Changelog.md
@@ -4,6 +4,14 @@
 
 ### Gazebo Rendering 9.0.0 (2024-09-XX)
 
+1. **Baseline:** this includes all changes from 8.2.0 and earlier.
+
+1. Update badges to point to gz-rendering9 branch
+    * [Pull request #1044](https://github.com/gazebosim/gz-rendering/pull/1044)
+
+1. Ionic Changelog
+    * [Pull request #1042](https://github.com/gazebosim/gz-rendering/pull/1042)
+
 1. Remove gl preference in cmake
     * [Pull request #1041](https://github.com/gazebosim/gz-rendering/pull/1041)