diff --git a/.mailmap b/.mailmap
index 87221c9af..aac1a4422 100644
--- a/.mailmap
+++ b/.mailmap
@@ -3,9 +3,11 @@ Abhinandan Prativadi <abhi@docker.com> <aprativadi@gmail.com>
 Ace-Tang <aceapril@126.com>
 Adam Korcz <adam@adalogics.com> <Adam@adalogics.com>
 Aditi Sharma <adi.sky17@gmail.com> <sharmaad@vmware.com>
+Akhil Mohan <akhilerm@gmail.com> <makhil@vmware.com>
 Akihiro Suda <akihiro.suda.cz@hco.ntt.co.jp> <suda.akihiro@lab.ntt.co.jp>
 Akihiro Suda <akihiro.suda.cz@hco.ntt.co.jp> <suda.kyoto@gmail.com>
 Allen Sun <shlallen1990@gmail.com> <allensun@AllenSundeMacBook-Pro.local>
+Alex Ellis <alexellis2@gmail.com>
 Alexander Morozov <lk4d4math@gmail.com> <lk4d4@docker.com>
 Antonio Ojea <antonio.ojea.garcia@gmail.com> <aojea@google.com>
 Antonio Ojea <antonio.ojea.garcia@gmail.com> <aojea@redhat.com>
@@ -26,8 +28,10 @@ Cory Bennett <cbennett@netflix.com>
 Cristian Staretu <cristian.staretu@gmail.com>
 Cristian Staretu <cristian.staretu@gmail.com> <unclejack@users.noreply.github.com>
 Daniel Dao <dqminh89@gmail.com>
+Danny Canter <danny@dcantah.dev> <danny_canter@apple.com>
 Derek McGowan <derek@mcg.dev> <derek@mcgstyle.net>
 Edgar Lee <edgarl@netflix.com> <edgar.lee@docker.com>
+Enrico Weigelt <info@metux.net>
 Eric Ernst <eric@amperecomputing.com> <eric.ernst@intel.com>
 Eric Lin <linxiulei@gmail.com> <exlin@google.com>
 Eric Ren <renzhen.rz@linux.alibaba.com> <renzhen@linux.alibaba.com>
@@ -69,17 +73,21 @@ Lorenz Brun <lorenz@brun.one> <lorenz@nexantic.com>
 Luc Perkins <lucperkins@gmail.com>
 James Sturtevant <jsturtevant@gmail.com> <jstur@microsoft.com>
 Jiajun Jiang <levinxo@gmail.com>
+Jin Dong <djdongjin95@gmail.com> <jin.dong@databricks.com>
 Julien Balestra <julien.balestra@datadoghq.com>
 Jun Lin Chen <webmaster@mc256.com> <1913688+mc256@users.noreply.github.com>
 Justin Cormack <justin.cormack@docker.com> <justin@specialbusservice.com>
 Justin Terry <juterry@microsoft.com>
 Justin Terry <juterry@microsoft.com> <jterry75@users.noreply.github.com>
 Kante <kerthcet@gmail.com>
+Kazuyoshi Kato <kato.kazuyoshi@gmail.com>
+Kazuyoshi Kato <kato.kazuyoshi@gmail.com> <kaz@fly.io>
 Kazuyoshi Kato <kato.kazuyoshi@gmail.com> <katokazu@amazon.com>
 Kenfe-Mickaël Laventure <mickael.laventure@gmail.com>
 Kevin Kern <kaiwentan@harmonycloud.cn>
 Kevin Parsons <kevpar@microsoft.com> <kevpar@users.noreply.github.com>
 Kevin Xu <cming.xu@gmail.com>
+Kirtana Ashok <kiashok@microsoft.com> <Kirtana.Ashok@microsoft.com>
 Kitt Hsu <kitt.hsu@gmail.com>
 Kohei Tokunaga <ktokunaga.mail@gmail.com>
 Krasi Georgiev <krasi.root@gmail.com> <krasi@vip-consult.solutions>
@@ -89,6 +97,7 @@ lengrongfu <1275177125@qq.com>
 Li Yuxuan <liyuxuan04@baidu.com> <darfux@163.com>
 Lifubang <lifubang@aliyun.com> <lifubang@acmcoder.com>
 Lu Jingxiao <lujingxiao@huawei.com>
+Mahamed Ali <cy@borg.dev>
 Maksym Pavlenko <pavlenko.maksym@gmail.com> <865334+mxpv@users.noreply.github.com>
 Maksym Pavlenko <pavlenko.maksym@gmail.com> <makpav@amazon.com>
 Maksym Pavlenko <pavlenko.maksym@gmail.com> <mxpv@apple.com>
@@ -96,6 +105,7 @@ Mario Hros <spam@k3a.me>
 Mario Hros <spam@k3a.me> <root@k3a.me>
 Mario Macias <mariomac@gmail.com> <mmacias@newrelic.com>
 Mark Gordon <msg555@gmail.com>
+Markus Lehtonen <markus.lehtonen@intel.com> <markus.lehtonen@linux.intel.com>
 Marvin Giessing <marvin.giessing@gmail.com>
 Mathis Michel <mathis.michel@outlook.de>
 Michael Crosby <crosbymichael@gmail.com> <michael@thepasture.io>
@@ -108,6 +118,7 @@ Ning Li <ning.a.li@transwarp.io>
 ningmingxiao <ning.mingxiao@zte.com.cn>
 Nishchay Kumar <mrawesomenix@gmail.com>
 Oliver Stenbom <oliver@stenbom.eu> <ostenbom@pivotal.io>
+Pan Yibo <mstmdev@gmail.com>
 Phil Estes <estesp@gmail.com> <estesp@linux.vnet.ibm.com>
 Phil Estes <estesp@gmail.com> <estesp@amazon.com>
 Qian Zhang <cosmoer@qq.com>
@@ -147,6 +158,7 @@ wangzhan <wang.zhan@smartx.com>
 Wei Fu <fuweid89@gmail.com>
 Wei Fu <fuweid89@gmail.com> <fhfuwei@163.com>
 wen chen <wen.chen@daocloud.io>
+William Chen <willchen.005@gmail.com> <root@DESKTOP-HIQTJ3R.localdomain>
 Xiaodong Zhang <a4012017@sina.com>
 Xuean Yan <yan.xuean@zte.com.cn>
 Yang Yang <yang8518296@163.com>
@@ -155,6 +167,7 @@ Yuxing Liu <starnop@163.com>
 Zechun Chen <zechun.chen@daocloud.io>
 zhang he <zhanghe9702@163.com>
 Zhang Wei <zhangwei555@huawei.com>
+zhangpeng <zhangpeng63@baidu.com>
 zhangyadong <zhangyadong.0808@bytedance.com>
 Zhenguang Zhu <zhengguang.zhu@daocloud.io>
 Zhiyu Li <payall4u@qq.com>
diff --git a/releases/v2.0.0-beta.toml b/releases/v2.0.0-beta.toml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..67dc87b30
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releases/v2.0.0-beta.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+# commit to be tagged for new release
+commit = "HEAD"
+
+project_name = "containerd"
+github_repo = "containerd/containerd"
+match_deps = "^github.com/(containerd/[a-zA-Z0-9-]+)$"
+
+# previous release
+previous = "v1.7.0"
+
+pre_release = true
+
+preface = """\
+The first major release of containerd 2.x focuses on the continued stability of
+containerd's core feature set with an easy upgrade from containerd 1.x. This
+release includes the stabilization of new features added in the last 1.x release
+as well as the removal of features which were deprecated in 1.x. The goal is to
+support the vast community of containerd users well into the future along with
+their ever increasing deployment footprints and variety of use cases.
+"""
+
+postface = """\
+### Which file should I download?
+* `containerd-<VERSION>-<OS>-<ARCH>.tar.gz`:         ✅Recommended. Dynamically linked with glibc 2.31 (Ubuntu 20.04).
+* `containerd-static-<VERSION>-<OS>-<ARCH>.tar.gz`:  Statically linked. Expected to be used on non-glibc Linux distributions. Not position-independent.
+
+In addition to containerd, typically you will have to install [runc](https://github.com/opencontainers/runc/releases)
+and [CNI plugins](https://github.com/containernetworking/plugins/releases) from their official sites too.
+
+See also the [Getting Started](https://github.com/containerd/containerd/blob/main/docs/getting-started.md) documentation.
+"""
+
+override_deps."github.com/containerd/log".previous = "cf9777876edf6a4aa230c739bc7eec5ab8349e9c"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/version/version.go b/version/version.go
index 85f13141d..792ee6da0 100644
--- a/version/version.go
+++ b/version/version.go
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ var (
 	Package = "github.com/containerd/containerd/v2"
 
 	// Version holds the complete version number. Filled in at linking time.
-	Version = "1.7.0+unknown"
+	Version = "2.0.0-beta.0+unknown"
 
 	// Revision is filled with the VCS (e.g. git) revision being used to build
 	// the program at linking time.