diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
index 99e79dfa090..83677de73e3 100644
--- a/.gitattributes
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -1893,6 +1893,7 @@ Maintenance/release_building/BUGFIX_NUMBER -text
 Maintenance/release_building/MAJOR_NUMBER -text
 Maintenance/release_building/MINOR_NUMBER -text
 Maintenance/release_building/global_dont_submit -text
+Maintenance/release_building/release_name -text
 Maintenance/rpm/SOURCES/CGAL-README.Fedora svneol=native#text/plain
 Maintenance/rpm/SOURCES/CGAL-build-library.dpatch svneol=native#text/x-diff
 Maintenance/rpm/SOURCES/CGAL-install_cgal-SUPPORT_REQUIRED.patch svneol=native#text/x-diff
diff --git a/Maintenance/release_building/release_name b/Maintenance/release_building/release_name
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..6b3d8b61cdc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Maintenance/release_building/release_name
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+CGAL-3.8-alpha1