diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 9dad54d3e33..519fb5eafa2 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -109,6 +109,8 @@ Build
 
 - Issue #10094: Use versioned .so files on GNU/kfreeBSD and the GNU Hurd.
 
+- Accept Oracle Berkeley DB 5.0 and 5.1 as backend for the dbm extension.
+
 
 What's New in Python 3.2 Alpha 3?
 =================================
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 861f9ef04db..549eccbb451 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -729,7 +729,7 @@ def detect_modules(self):
         # a release.  Most open source OSes come with one or more
         # versions of BerkeleyDB already installed.
 
-        max_db_ver = (4, 8)
+        max_db_ver = (5, 1)
         min_db_ver = (3, 3)
         db_setup_debug = False   # verbose debug prints from this script?