diff --git a/AUTHORS b/AUTHORS
index a46220775054f6..cd2b3aa983003f 100644
--- a/AUTHORS
+++ b/AUTHORS
@@ -744,5 +744,8 @@ Giovanny Andres Gongora Granada <gioyik@gmail.com>
 Jeffrey Jagoda <jeffrey.jagoda@gmail.com>
 Kelsey Breseman <ifoundthemeaningoflife@gmail.com>
 Peter Petrov <onestone@gmail.com>
+Andrew Crites <acrites@mobiquityinc.com>
+Marat Abdullin <dakota@brokenpipe.ru>
+Dan Varga <dvarga@redhat.com>
 
 # Generated by tools/update-authors.sh
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index dfb68c43c6d566..d2edd60a0ee245 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -34,13 +34,8 @@ $ git remote add upstream git://github.com/iojs/io.js.git
 
 #### Which branch?
 
-Now decide if you want your feature or bug fix to go into the master branch
-or the stable branch.  As a rule of thumb, bug fixes go into the stable branch
-while new features go into the master branch.
-
-The stable branch is effectively frozen; patches that change the io.js
-API/ABI or affect the run-time behavior of applications get rejected. The
-current stable branch is set as the default branch on GitHub.
+For developing new features and bug fixes, the `master` branch should be pulled
+and built upon.
 
 #### Respect the stability index
 
@@ -49,7 +44,7 @@ The rules for the master branch are less strict; consult the
 
 In a nutshell, modules are at varying levels of API stability.  Bug fixes are
 always welcome but API or behavioral changes to modules at stability level 3
-and up are off-limits.
+(Locked) are off-limits.
 
 #### Dependencies
 
@@ -71,12 +66,9 @@ does not align with the project team.
 Create a feature branch and start hacking:
 
 ```text
-$ git checkout -b my-feature-branch -t origin/v1.x
+$ git checkout -b my-feature-branch -t origin/master
 ```
 
-(Where `v1.x` is the latest stable branch as of this writing.)
-
-
 ### Step 3: Commit
 
 Make sure git knows your name and email address:
@@ -123,7 +115,7 @@ Use `git rebase` (not `git merge`) to sync your work from time to time.
 
 ```text
 $ git fetch upstream
-$ git rebase upstream/v1.x  # or upstream/master
+$ git rebase upstream/master
 ```
 
 
@@ -147,10 +139,10 @@ can use this syntax to run it exactly as the test harness would:
 $ python tools/test.py -v --mode=release parallel/test-stream2-transform
 ```
 
-You can run tests directly with node:
+You can run tests directly with iojs:
 
 ```text
-$ node ./test/parallel/test-streams2-transform.js
+$ iojs ./test/parallel/test-streams2-transform.js
 ```
 
 
diff --git a/lib/_http_client.js b/lib/_http_client.js
index daa37ef064e3fc..200a08e5d5bf85 100644
--- a/lib/_http_client.js
+++ b/lib/_http_client.js
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ function ClientRequest(options, cb) {
 
   if (typeof options === 'string') {
     options = url.parse(options);
+  } else {
+    options = util._extend({}, options);
   }
 
   var agent = options.agent;
diff --git a/src/node_version.h b/src/node_version.h
index ad48f98a36923f..d24973bde12427 100644
--- a/src/node_version.h
+++ b/src/node_version.h
@@ -1,11 +1,11 @@
 #ifndef SRC_NODE_VERSION_H_
 #define SRC_NODE_VERSION_H_
 
-#define NODE_MAJOR_VERSION 1
-#define NODE_MINOR_VERSION 8
-#define NODE_PATCH_VERSION 1
+#define NODE_MAJOR_VERSION 2
+#define NODE_MINOR_VERSION 0
+#define NODE_PATCH_VERSION 0
 
-#define NODE_VERSION_IS_RELEASE 1
+#define NODE_VERSION_IS_RELEASE 0
 
 #ifndef NODE_STRINGIFY
 #define NODE_STRINGIFY(n) NODE_STRINGIFY_HELPER(n)
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-http-request-dont-override-options.js b/test/parallel/test-http-request-dont-override-options.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..66d82caeac930d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/parallel/test-http-request-dont-override-options.js
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+'use strict';
+
+const common = require('../common');
+const assert = require('assert');
+const http = require('http');
+
+var requests = 0;
+
+http.createServer(function(req, res) {
+  res.writeHead(200);
+  res.end('ok');
+
+  requests++;
+}).listen(common.PORT).unref();
+
+var agent = new http.Agent();
+agent.defaultPort = common.PORT;
+
+// options marked as explicitly undefined for readability
+// in this test, they should STAY undefined as options should not
+// be mutable / modified
+var options = {
+  host: undefined,
+  hostname: common.localhostIPv4,
+  port: undefined,
+  defaultPort: undefined,
+  path: undefined,
+  method: undefined,
+  agent: agent
+};
+
+http.request(options, function(res) {
+  res.resume();
+}).end();
+
+process.on('exit', function() {
+  assert.equal(requests, 1);
+
+  assert.strictEqual(options.host, undefined);
+  assert.strictEqual(options.hostname, common.localhostIPv4);
+  assert.strictEqual(options.port, undefined);
+  assert.strictEqual(options.defaultPort, undefined);
+  assert.strictEqual(options.path, undefined);
+  assert.strictEqual(options.method, undefined);
+});