VERSION      | 2 +-
 doc/news.rst | 8 ++++++++

diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index df8e58ac3370d0236857c3309db19793095a2ca909b129c0f0981d1d0812a35b..bcc3d79cb7d0ca8e46edd533d676782b19ec2f6780f3de6f5f60d559eaa3ebad 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-5.2
+5.3
diff --git a/doc/news.rst b/doc/news.rst
index 59c75d49120200437b81125d978af84ab146b82b42e29d9f7df7ff3c0c86d374..afbd2577397f85300239805937edcdafa9cddb9b887d456b111fce98178c2547 100644
--- a/doc/news.rst
+++ b/doc/news.rst
@@ -1,6 +1,14 @@
 News
 ====
 
+.. _release5.3:
+
+5.3
+---
+* Forbid any later GNU GPL version autousage (project's licence now is
+  GNU LGPLv3 only)
+* Fix ``defines_by_path`` context option usage example
+
 .. _release5.2:
 
 5.2