diff --git a/cde/HISTORY b/cde/HISTORY
index 5243c32cd..f085c4a61 100644
--- a/cde/HISTORY
+++ b/cde/HISTORY
@@ -6,6 +6,64 @@ use 'git log', or peruse the commit history at:
 https://sourceforge.net/p/cdesktopenv/code/commit_browser
 
 
+#######################################################################
+### 2.5.3 (stable) 11/25/2025
+
+This is mainly a bugfix release addressing various issues.
+
+Shortlog:
+
+Chase (2):
+      dtfile: use sh instead of ksh for find command
+      dthelp/parser: use standard ctype case functions
+
+Dark Ayron (1):
+      dtwm: add support for more mouse buttons
+
+Jon Trulson (3):
+      dtcm: Chase FreeBSD src bb421be6c117 which moved ftime(3)
+      tradcpp: fix bool issue with newer compilers (GCC 15)
+      fix: t_optmgmt: Incorrect options format
+
+Myrrh Periwinkle (1):
+      libDtWidget: Do not mix wide and narrow operations on the same stream
+
+Nilton Perim Neto (1):
+      Made a workaround to not use the sh_access
+
+Patrick Georgi (6):
+      DtTerm/TermPrimUtil: Use 6 'X's in mktemp template
+      DtTerm/TermPrimUtil: Use mkstemp instead of mktemp
+      lib/DtTerm: Fix copy&paste error
+      lib/DtTerm: Remove dead assignments, initializations and increments
+      DtTerm/TermPrim: check pointer before traversing
+      Add systemd service file for dtlogin
+
+Paul Ward (1):
+      dtterm: Fix title and icon Sun esc seqs
+
+Trung Lê (2):
+      tt/ttauth: Update print_help()
+      tt/mini_isam: explicitly declare compfunc parameters
+
+b'Jon Trulson (1):
+      Merge /u/runlevel5/cde/ branch print-help-gcc15 into master
+
+hyousatsu (8):
+      ksh93: fix a compilation error on 32-bit system.
+      DtMmdb: replace Berkeley DB with LMDB.
+      dtdocbook: link to lmdb.
+      DtMmdb: replace ostring with std::string.
+      Fix some warnings.
+      DtMmdb: fix a crash occurs when creating bookmark.
+      dtcreate: make pop-ups work properly.
+      dtwm: manage windows properly to avoid potential segmentation faults.
+
+rhubarb-geek-nz (1):
+      init scripts from rhubarb-pi.sf.net
+
+
+
 #######################################################################
 ### 2.5.2 (stable) 11/18/2023
 
diff --git a/cde/configure.ac b/cde/configure.ac
index f16acd90f..48e6b32cd 100644
--- a/cde/configure.ac
+++ b/cde/configure.ac
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 dnl When changing the version below, also change the CDE_VERSION_* macros
 dnl to match further below
 AC_INIT([Common Desktop Environment],
-        [2.5.2],
+        [2.5.3],
         [https://sourceforge.net/projects/cdesktopenv],
         [cde],
         [https://sourceforge.net/projects/cdesktopenv])
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ dnl global CDE versioning
 
 CDE_VERSION_MAJOR=2
 CDE_VERSION_MINOR=5
-CDE_VERSION_MICRO=2
+CDE_VERSION_MICRO=3
 dnl this is blank for a release, or contains an alpha character to indicate a
 dnl dev release.
 CDE_VERSION_DEV=