diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 150771f7..70336ce4 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+12/2/18 started 8.6.3
+- use pkg-config to find libjpeg, if we can
+
 5/1/18 started 8.6.2
 - vips_sink_screen() keeps a ref to the input image ... stops a rare race
 - fix a minor accidental ABI break in 8.6.0 -> 8.6.1 [remicollet]
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index e04893ae..8023bbd1 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 # also update the version number in the m4 macros below
 
-AC_INIT([vips], [8.6.2], [vipsip@jiscmail.ac.uk])
+AC_INIT([vips], [8.6.3], [vipsip@jiscmail.ac.uk])
 # required for gobject-introspection
 AC_PREREQ(2.62)
 
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR([m4])
 # user-visible library versioning
 m4_define([vips_major_version], [8])
 m4_define([vips_minor_version], [6])
-m4_define([vips_micro_version], [2])
+m4_define([vips_micro_version], [3])
 m4_define([vips_version],
           [vips_major_version.vips_minor_version.vips_micro_version])