diff --git a/.meta/dietpi-survey_report b/.meta/dietpi-survey_report
index 2b7870e730..2507c0b98a 100755
--- a/.meta/dietpi-survey_report
+++ b/.meta/dietpi-survey_report
@@ -729,13 +729,15 @@ shopt -s extglob
 	aSOFTWARE_NAME9_6[213]='soju'
 
 	aSOFTWARE_NAME9_7=()
+	aSOFTWARE_NAME9_8=()
 	for i in "${!aSOFTWARE_NAME9_6[@]}"
 	do
 		aSOFTWARE_NAME9_7[i]=${aSOFTWARE_NAME9_6[i]}
+		aSOFTWARE_NAME9_8[i]=${aSOFTWARE_NAME9_7[i]}
 	done
 
 	# Pre-create software counter array so that we can see also software (available in newest version) with 0 installs
-	for i in "${aSOFTWARE_NAME9_7[@]}"
+	for i in "${aSOFTWARE_NAME9_8[@]}"
 	do
 		aSOFTWARE[$i]=0
 	done
diff --git a/.update/version b/.update/version
index a8977da8a1..47a6b7f53e 100644
--- a/.update/version
+++ b/.update/version
@@ -2,8 +2,8 @@
 # shellcheck disable=SC2034
 # Available DietPi version
 G_REMOTE_VERSION_CORE=9
-G_REMOTE_VERSION_SUB=7
-G_REMOTE_VERSION_RC=1
+G_REMOTE_VERSION_SUB=8
+G_REMOTE_VERSION_RC=-1
 # Minimum DietPi version to allow update
 G_MIN_VERSION_CORE=7
 G_MIN_VERSION_SUB=0
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.txt b/CHANGELOG.txt
index d67dfed404..183c8a131a 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.txt
+++ b/CHANGELOG.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 v9.8
-(2024-09-XX)
+(2024-09-21)
 
 Enhancements:
 - DietPi-Software | NoMachine: Our install option will now always download the latest NoMachine version, instead of a hardcoded one depending on the DietPi version. Many thanks to @tzvi208 for for figuring it out to version-agnostic download URLs: https://github.com/MichaIng/DietPi/issues/7198
diff --git a/dietpi/func/dietpi-globals b/dietpi/func/dietpi-globals
index 6e88809437..419aef0be6 100644
--- a/dietpi/func/dietpi-globals
+++ b/dietpi/func/dietpi-globals
@@ -54,8 +54,8 @@
 	[[ -f '/boot/dietpi/.version' ]] && . /boot/dietpi/.version
 	# - Assign defaults/code version as fallback
 	[[ $G_DIETPI_VERSION_CORE ]] || G_DIETPI_VERSION_CORE=9
-	[[ $G_DIETPI_VERSION_SUB ]] || G_DIETPI_VERSION_SUB=7
-	[[ $G_DIETPI_VERSION_RC ]] || G_DIETPI_VERSION_RC=1
+	[[ $G_DIETPI_VERSION_SUB ]] || G_DIETPI_VERSION_SUB=8
+	[[ $G_DIETPI_VERSION_RC ]] || G_DIETPI_VERSION_RC=-1
 	[[ $G_GITBRANCH ]] || G_GITBRANCH='master'
 	[[ $G_GITOWNER ]] || G_GITOWNER='MichaIng'
 	# - Save current version and Git branch