diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 060f3bc9..58c26380 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-*** Changes since AVR-LibC-2.2.0:
+*** Changes in AVR-LibC-2.2.1:
 
 * General:
 
@@ -25,6 +25,8 @@
 
 * Pull requests:
 
+  - Issue #971 - configure.ac: Test for Binutils PR29741 / PR31177. (PR #972)
+
 * Other changes:
 
 
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index abc33942..5b5131aa 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -39,9 +39,9 @@ dnl library versioning -- modify these on releases
 dnl        macro name           value            description
 m4_define([avr_libc_major],    [2])dnl           major version
 m4_define([avr_libc_minor],    [2])dnl           minor version
-m4_define([avr_libc_revision], [0])dnl           revision (dot-dot version)
+m4_define([avr_libc_revision], [1])dnl           revision (dot-dot version)
 m4_define([avr_libc_revision_suffix], [])dnl  revision suffix (if any)
-m4_define([avr_libc_reldate],  [20240608])dnl    release date
+m4_define([avr_libc_reldate],  [20240718])dnl    release date
 dnl end of library versioning data
 
 m4_define([avr_libc_version],