diff -r 6c3d67ed3adb distutils2/tests/test_version.py
--- a/distutils2/tests/test_version.py	Sun Mar 13 15:52:26 2011 -0400
+++ b/distutils2/tests/test_version.py	Wed Apr 13 18:51:07 2011 +0200
@@ -99,8 +99,14 @@
         True
         >>> V('1.2.0') >= V('1.2.3')
         False
+        >>> V('1.2.0rc1') >= V('1.2.0')
+        False
         >>> (V('1.0') > V('1.0b2'))
         True
+        >>> (V('1.0') > V('1.0rc2'))
+        True
+        >>> (V('1.0rc2') > V('1.0rc1'))
+        True
         >>> (V('1.0') > V('1.0c2') > V('1.0c1') > V('1.0b2') > V('1.0b1')
         ...  > V('1.0a2') > V('1.0a1'))
         True
@@ -127,6 +133,8 @@
         ...  < V('1.0.dev18')
         ...  < V('1.0.dev456')
         ...  < V('1.0.dev1234')
+        ...  < V('1.0rc1')
+        ...  < V('1.0rc2')
         ...  < V('1.0')
         ...  < V('1.0.post456.dev623')  # development version of a post release
         ...  < V('1.0.post456'))
diff -r 6c3d67ed3adb distutils2/version.py
--- a/distutils2/version.py	Sun Mar 13 15:52:26 2011 -0400
+++ b/distutils2/version.py	Wed Apr 13 18:51:07 2011 +0200
@@ -9,19 +9,22 @@
 # A marker used in the second and third parts of the `parts` tuple, for
 # versions that don't have those segments, to sort properly. An example
 # of versions in sort order ('highest' last):
-#   1.0b1                 ((1,0), ('b',1), ('f',))
-#   1.0.dev345            ((1,0), ('f',),  ('dev', 345))
-#   1.0                   ((1,0), ('f',),  ('f',))
-#   1.0.post256.dev345    ((1,0), ('f',),  ('f', 'post', 256, 'dev', 345))
-#   1.0.post345           ((1,0), ('f',),  ('f', 'post', 345, 'f'))
+#   1.0b1                 ((1,0), ('b',1), ('z',))
+#   1.0.dev345            ((1,0), ('z',),  ('dev', 345))
+#   1.0                   ((1,0), ('z',),  ('z',))
+#   1.0.post256.dev345    ((1,0), ('z',),  ('z', 'post', 256, 'dev', 345))
+#   1.0.post345           ((1,0), ('z',),  ('z', 'post', 345, 'z'))
 #                                   ^        ^                 ^
-#   'b' < 'f' ---------------------/         |                 |
+#   'b' < 'z' ---------------------/         |                 |
 #                                            |                 |
-#   'dev' < 'f' < 'post' -------------------/                  |
+#   'dev' < 'z' < 'post' -------------------/                  |
 #                                                              |
-#   'dev' < 'f' ----------------------------------------------/
-# Other letters would do, but 'f' for 'final' is kind of nice.
-_FINAL_MARKER = ('f',)
+#   'dev' < 'z' ----------------------------------------------/
+# At first there was 'f' for 'final' which was kind of nice. However, it
+# didn't work with release candidates, e.g. 'f' < 'rc1', that's why it's
+# better to use 'z'.
+_FINAL_MARKER_CHAR = 'z'
+_FINAL_MARKER = (_FINAL_MARKER_CHAR,)
 
 _VERSION_RE = re.compile(r'''
     ^
@@ -166,7 +169,7 @@
             s += prerel[0]
             s += '.'.join(str(v) for v in prerel[1:])
         if postdev and postdev is not _FINAL_MARKER:
-            if postdev[0] == 'f':
+            if postdev[0] == _FINAL_MARKER_CHAR:
                 postdev = postdev[1:]
             i = 0
             while i < len(postdev):