Initial NEWS, RELEASE-NOTES updates for a test release
diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 48dd7f2..acdfcd8 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
 News (mainly features/major bug fixes)
 
+portage-2.3.0_rc1
+-----------------
+* New split release for the repoman Q/A tool
+* Includes the stage2 rewite of the repoman code base
+
 
 portage-2.2.26
 --------------
diff --git a/RELEASE-NOTES b/RELEASE-NOTES
index efd446a..2f9f4ad 100644
--- a/RELEASE-NOTES
+++ b/RELEASE-NOTES
@@ -1,6 +1,17 @@
 Release Notes; upgrade information mainly.
 Features/major bugfixes are listed in NEWS
 
+portage-2.3.0_rc1
+==================================
+* Initial test release of the now split portage/repoman pkgs
+* Bug Fixes:
+    - Bug 577720 Colorize packages in user sets
+    - Bug 577126 egencache --write-timestamp: use write_atomic
+* portageq: Case-insensitive match maintainer emails
+* qa: gcc-warnings: force text mode w/grep
+* qa-checks: change "herd" to "maintainer"
+* qa-checks: executable-issues: improve logic & output
+
 portage-2.2.28
 ==================================
 * Bug Fixes:
diff --git a/repoman/RELEASE-NOTES b/repoman/RELEASE-NOTES
index 5daf588..b8ae8b3 100644
--- a/repoman/RELEASE-NOTES
+++ b/repoman/RELEASE-NOTES
@@ -3,5 +3,13 @@
 
 repoman-2.3.0_rc1
 ==================================
-* initial release
+* Initial test release
 * Bug Fixes:
+    - Bug 579460 Disable the $ID header check
+    - Bug 546010 Handle removed packages in vcs_files_to_cps
+    - Bug 581594 Fix commit 8e7971169c2 missing self in func() parameters
+    - Bug 581598 Add InvalidPackageName exception trap
+    - Bug 405017 Fix copyright update
+* Includes the stage2 re-writes, the checks are now in a modular system
+  which is not yet fully plug-in capable.  Becoming fully plug-in capable and
+  configurable is to be done in the stage3 rewites.