diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index 2f259df..42a3cc7 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -7,27 +7,14 @@
             (see long_description_from_readme in setup.py)
     You can use docutils 1.0 markup, but *not* any Sphinx additions.
 
-.. These substitution definitions apply in the readme (github) only;
-   they're altered by setup.py for the long_description,
-   and defined differently for the docs includes
-
-.. |release| replace:: (source)
-
-.. |version| replace:: |release|
-
-.. |buildstatus| image:: https://secure.travis-ci.org/brack3t/Djrill.png?branch=master
-                 :target: https://travis-ci.org/brack3t/Djrill
-
 .. default-role:: literal
 
 
-.. _shared-intro:
-   .. This shared-intro section is also included in docs/index.rst
-
 Djrill: Mandrill Transactional Email for Django
 ===============================================
 
-Release |release|
+.. _shared-intro:
+   .. This shared-intro section is also included in docs/index.rst
 
 Djrill integrates the `Mandrill <http://mandrill.com>`_ transactional
 email service into Django.
@@ -41,11 +28,16 @@ package. It includes:
 * An optional Django admin interface
 
 Djrill is released under the BSD license. It is tested against Django 1.3, 1.4, and 1.5
-(including Python 3 support with Django 1.5). |buildstatus|
+(including Python 3 support with Django 1.5).
 
 .. END shared-intro
 
-Resources:
+.. image:: https://secure.travis-ci.org/brack3t/Djrill.png?branch=master
+       :target: https://travis-ci.org/brack3t/Djrill
+       :alt:    build status on Travis-CI
+
+
+**Resources**
 
 * Full documentation: https://djrill.readthedocs.org/en/latest/
 * Package on PyPI: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/djrill
diff --git a/djrill/_version.py b/djrill/_version.py
index a26bd62..979f675 100644
--- a/djrill/_version.py
+++ b/djrill/_version.py
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
-VERSION = (0, 3, 9)
+VERSION = (0, 4, 0, 'dev1')  # Remove the 'dev1' component in release branches
 __version__ = '.'.join([str(x) for x in VERSION])
 __minor_version__ = '.'.join([str(x) for x in VERSION[:2]])  # Sphinx's X.Y "version"
diff --git a/docs/index.rst b/docs/index.rst
index d10c888..169b3a3 100644
--- a/docs/index.rst
+++ b/docs/index.rst
@@ -3,20 +3,17 @@
    You can adapt this file completely to your liking, but it should at least
    contain the root `toctree` directive.
 
+Djrill: Mandrill Transactional Email for Django
+===============================================
+
+Version |release|
+
 .. Incorporate the shared-intro section from the root README:
 
 .. include:: ../README.rst
    :start-after: _shared-intro:
    :end-before:  END shared-intro
 
-.. Eliminate the README's Travis build status indicator.
-   (Is there some way we could link to Travis status for the
-   specific |VERSION| of the app being documented here???)
-
-.. |buildstatus| replace:: \
-
-
-.. _toc:
 
 Documentation
 -------------
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index b29c789..cf7fd98 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -9,12 +9,10 @@ with open("djrill/_version.py") as f:
 
 
 def long_description_from_readme(rst):
-    # Patch up some rest substitution variables (references only - not definitions):
-    rst = re.sub(r'(?<!\.\. )\|release\|', __version__, rst)
-    rst = re.sub(r'(?<!\.\. )\|version\|', __minor_version__, rst)
-    rst = re.sub(r'(?<!\.\. )\|buildstatus\|', "", rst)  # hide latest-code Travis status indicator
-    rst = re.sub(r'(djrill\.readthedocs\.org/\w+)/latest',
-                 r'\1/' + __version__, rst)  # freeze docs link to this version
+    # In release branches, freeze some external links to refer to this X.Y version:
+    if not "dev" in __version__:
+        rst = re.sub(r'branch=master', 'branch=v' + __minor_version__, rst)  # Travis build status
+        rst = re.sub(r'/latest', '/v' + __minor_version__, rst)  # ReadTheDocs
     return rst
 
 with open('LICENSE') as f: