diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 3b620b2..893328e 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -15,9 +15,9 @@ message(STATUS "CMake version = ${CMAKE_VERSION}")
 message(STATUS "CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME = ${CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME}")
 
 set(PROJECT_VERSION_MAJOR 1)
-set(PROJECT_VERSION_MINOR 5)
+set(PROJECT_VERSION_MINOR 6)
 set(PROJECT_VERSION_PATCH 0)
-set(shp_LIB_VERSIONINFO "3:0:1")
+set(shp_LIB_VERSIONINFO "4:0:0")
 set(PROJECT_VERSION 
   "${PROJECT_VERSION_MAJOR}.${PROJECT_VERSION_MINOR}.${PROJECT_VERSION_PATCH}")
 
diff --git a/HOWTO-RELEASE b/HOWTO-RELEASE
index 18b7eb6..916fde3 100644
--- a/HOWTO-RELEASE
+++ b/HOWTO-RELEASE
@@ -13,6 +13,9 @@
    - PROJECT_VERSION_PATCH
    - shp_LIB_VERSIONINFO
 
+   In shapefil.h, update SHAPELIB_VERSION_MAJOR, SHAPELIB_VERSION_MINOR,
+   SHAPELIB_VERSION_MICRO
+
 1) Update web/release.html with change notes on the new release and commit.
 
 2) Build the release files.
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 20302ac..0cef3a0 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 dnl Process this file with autoconf to produce a configure script.
 
 m4_define(shapelib_version_major, 1)
-m4_define(shapelib_version_minor, 5)
+m4_define(shapelib_version_minor, 6)
 m4_define(shapelib_version_micro, 0)
 
 AC_PREREQ(2.62)
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ AM_SILENT_RULES([yes])
 m4_ifdef([AM_PROG_AR], [AM_PROG_AR])
 
 dnl See http://www.gnu.org/software/libtool/manual/html_node/Updating-version-info.html
-AC_SUBST([SHAPELIB_SO_VERSION], [3:0:1])
+AC_SUBST([SHAPELIB_SO_VERSION], [4:0:0])
 
 AC_PROG_CC
 AC_PROG_CXX
diff --git a/web/release.html b/web/release.html
index b09bcc3..e3c5c33 100644
--- a/web/release.html
+++ b/web/release.html
@@ -10,6 +10,44 @@ <h1>Shapelib Release Notes</h1>
 To get notification of new releases of Shapelib <i>subscribe</i> to
 the project mailing list at https://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/shapelib/.<p>
 
+<b>Release 1.6.0</b>:
+<ul>
+<li>shapefil.h: add SHAPELIB_VERSION_MAJOR/MINOR/MICRO, SHAPELIB_VERSION_NUMBER, and SHAPELIB_AT_LEAST macros</li>
+<li>Compiler warning fixes and various code cleanups</li>
+<li>SAHooks: add a void *pvUserData member. ABI change</li>
+<li>SAHooks.FOpen and FClose callbacks: add a void *pvUserData parameter. API and ABI change</li>
+<li>SAHooks.FWrite: make first parameter a const void*. API change</li>
+<li>Do not distribute default COPYING and INSTALL</li>
+<li>Use standard integer data types</li>
+<li>Changes to allow building with cmake -DCMAKE_UNITY_BUILD=ON</li>
+<li>Polygon writing: avoid considering rings slightly overlapping as inner-outer rings of others (refs OSGeo/gdal#5315)</li>
+<li>Polygon writing: consider rings at non-constant Z as outer rings (fixes OSGeo/gdal#5315)
+  As noted in code comments, this is an approximation of more complicated
+  tests we'd likely have to do, that would take into account real
+  co-planar testing, to allow detecting inner rings of outer rings in an
+  oblique plane.</li>
+<li>shpopen.c: Communicate why the file size cannot be reached when appending features (OSGeo/gdal#4140)
+  Clearly state why the file size cannot be reached. This is important in order
+  to correctly inform the user and prevent him/her from looking for other reasons.
+  Related to https://github.com/qgis/QGIS/issues/44202</li>
+<li>SHPWriteObject(): prevent potential overflows on 64-bit platforms on huge geometries</li>
+<li>SHPRestoreSHX: update SHX content length even if error occurred</li>
+<li>In creation, uses w+b file opening mode instead of wb followed by r+b,
+    to support network file systems having sequential write only and when
+    using CPL_VSIL_USE_TEMP_FILE_FOR_RANDOM_WRITE=YES (fixes OSGeo/gdal#7801)</li>
+<li>Fix adding features in a .dbf without columns (fixes qgis/qgis#51247)</li>
+<li>Have matching SOVERSION for CMake and autotools</li>
+<li>Code reformatting</li>
+<li>Enable csv2shp build with MSVC</li>
+<li>Build contributed utilities via CMake</li>
+<li>fix mis-matching CMake arguments</li>
+<li>Use the the standard BUILD_TESTING CMake variable</li>
+<li>Remove double free() in contrib/shpsrt, issue #39</li>
+<li>SHPRestoreSHX: fix for (64 bit) big endian</li>
+<li>Add config-style support for find_package(shapefile)</li>
+<li>Prevent no-op FSeeks writing dbf & shp records for network filesystem performance</li>
+</ul>
+
 <b>Release 1.5.0</b>:
 <ul>
 <li> Add FTDate entry in DBFFieldType