diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index 8f0ff955..60f15b53 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -1,6 +1,13 @@
 Changes
 =======
 
+1.4.0rc2 (2024-09-10)
+---------------------
+
+Version 1.4.0 will require GDAL >= 3.5. Conditional checks for older GDAL
+versions at compile and run time have been removed across the entirety of the
+project (#3166).
+
 1.4.0rc1 (2024-09-09)
 ---------------------
 
diff --git a/rasterio/__init__.py b/rasterio/__init__.py
index 218896b6..fdca1ba1 100644
--- a/rasterio/__init__.py
+++ b/rasterio/__init__.py
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ except ImportError:
     have_vsi_plugin = False
 
 __all__ = ['band', 'open', 'pad', 'Band', 'Env', 'CRS']
-__version__ = "1.4.0.dev1"
+__version__ = "1.4.0rc2"
 __gdal_version__ = gdal_version()
 __proj_version__ = ".".join([str(version) for version in get_proj_version()])
 __geos_version__ = ".".join([str(version) for version in get_geos_version()])