diff --git a/Documentation/developer/version_stamps.rst b/Documentation/developer/version_stamps.rst
index 3e84ddb37..5342d9aff 100644
--- a/Documentation/developer/version_stamps.rst
+++ b/Documentation/developer/version_stamps.rst
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ the "make version" target, or automatically if the version_tag.h
 file doesn't exist at all. This implies that a "make version" is
 something worth doing when you do a "git pull" or create commits.
 
-The files below are now edited by the Makefile and the version.exe program:
+The files below are now edited by the Makefile:
 
 * iverilog-vpi.man    -- The .TH tag has a version string
 * driver/iverilog.man -- The .TH tag has a version string
diff --git a/Documentation/usage/installation.rst b/Documentation/usage/installation.rst
index 090f020f0..e79d26fa5 100644
--- a/Documentation/usage/installation.rst
+++ b/Documentation/usage/installation.rst
@@ -373,7 +373,5 @@ Next, compile with the command::
 
   $ make
 
-The configure generated the cross compiler flags, but there are a few
-bits that need to be compiled with the native compiler. (version.exe
-for example is used by the build process but is not installed.) The
+The configure generated the cross compiler flags. The
 configure script should have gotten all that right.
diff --git a/Makefile.in b/Makefile.in
index 160af3de5..f94707363 100644
--- a/Makefile.in
+++ b/Makefile.in
@@ -36,6 +36,8 @@ prefix = @prefix@
 exec_prefix = @exec_prefix@
 srcdir = @srcdir@
 datarootdir = @datarootdir@
+VERSION_MAJOR = @VERSION_MAJOR@
+VERSION_MINOR = @VERSION_MINOR@
 
 SUBDIRS = ivlpp vhdlpp vvp vpi tgt-null tgt-stub tgt-vvp \
           tgt-vhdl tgt-vlog95 tgt-pcb tgt-blif tgt-sizer driver
@@ -132,7 +134,7 @@ O = main.o async.o design_dump.o discipline.o dup_expr.o elaborate.o \
     PGate.o PGenerate.o PModport.o PNamedItem.o PPackage.o PScope.o PSpec.o PTimingCheck.o \
     PTask.o PUdp.o PWire.o Statement.o AStatement.o $M $(FF) $(TT)
 
-all: dep config.h _pli_types.h version_tag.h ivl@EXEEXT@ version.exe iverilog-vpi.man
+all: dep config.h _pli_types.h version_tag.h version_base.h ivl@EXEEXT@ iverilog-vpi.man
 	$(foreach dir,$(SUBDIRS),$(MAKE) -C $(dir) $@ && ) true
 
 # In the windows world, the installer will need a dosify program to
@@ -167,11 +169,10 @@ clean:
 	$(foreach dir,$(SUBDIRS),$(MAKE) -C $(dir) $@ && ) true
 	rm -f *.o parse.cc parse.h lexor.cc
 	rm -f ivl.exp iverilog-vpi.man iverilog-vpi.pdf iverilog-vpi.ps
-	rm -f iverilog_man.ps iverilog_man.pdf iverilog_man_`./version.exe %M_%n`.pdf
+	rm -f iverilog_man.ps iverilog_man.pdf iverilog_man_$(VERSION_MAJOR)_$(VERSION_MINOR).pdf
 	rm -f parse.output syn-rules.output dosify$(BUILDEXT) ivl@EXEEXT@ check.vvp
-	rm -f lexor_keyword.cc libivl.a libvpi.a iverilog-vpi syn-rules.cc
+	rm -f lexor_keyword.cc libivl.a libvpi.a iverilog-vpi syn-rules.cc version_base.h
 	rm -rf dep
-	rm -f version.exe
 
 distclean: clean
 	$(foreach dir,$(SUBDIRS),$(MAKE) -C $(dir) $@ && ) true
@@ -251,8 +252,8 @@ iverilog-vpi: $(srcdir)/iverilog-vpi.sh Makefile
 	chmod +x $@
 endif
 
-version.exe: $(srcdir)/version.c $(srcdir)/version_base.h version_tag.h
-	$(BUILDCC) $(CPPFLAGS) $(CFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS) -o version.exe -I. -I$(srcdir) $(srcdir)/version.c
+version_base.h: $(srcdir)/version_base.h.in config.status
+	./config.status --file=$@
 
 %.o: %.cc config.h | dep
 	$(CXX) $(CPPFLAGS) $(CXXFLAGS) @DEPENDENCY_FLAG@ -c $< -o $*.o
@@ -280,9 +281,8 @@ lexor_keyword.o: lexor_keyword.cc parse.h
 lexor_keyword.cc: $(srcdir)/lexor_keyword.gperf
 	gperf -o -i 7 -C -k 1-4,6,9,$$ -H keyword_hash -N check_identifier -t $< > $@ || (rm -f $@ ; false)
 
-iverilog-vpi.man: $(srcdir)/iverilog-vpi.man.in version.exe
-	./version.exe `head -1 $<`'\n' > $@
-	tail -n +2 $< >> $@
+iverilog-vpi.man: $(srcdir)/iverilog-vpi.man.in config.status
+	./config.status --file=$@
 
 iverilog-vpi.ps: iverilog-vpi.man
 	$(MAN) -t ./$< > $@
@@ -293,9 +293,9 @@ iverilog-vpi.pdf: iverilog-vpi.ps
 iverilog_man.ps: driver/iverilog.man vvp/vvp.man iverilog-vpi.man
 	$(GROFF) -man -rC1 -rD1 -T ps $^ > $@
 
-iverilog_man.pdf: iverilog_man.ps version.exe
+iverilog_man.pdf: iverilog_man.ps
 	$(PS2PDF) $< $@
-	cp $@ iverilog_man_`./version.exe %M_%n`.pdf
+	cp $@ iverilog-vpi.man_$(VERSION_MAJOR)_$(VERSION_MINOR).pdf
 
 # For VERSION_TAG in driver/main.c, first try git-describe, then look for a
 # release_tag.h file in the source tree (included in snapshots and releases),
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index a397d47d9..363010118 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1,7 +1,20 @@
 dnl Process this file with autoconf to produce a configure script.
-AC_INIT
+
 AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIRS([m4])
 
+dnl Define project version
+m4_define([VER_MAJOR], [14])
+m4_define([VER_MINOR], [0])
+m4_define([VER_EXTRA], [devel])
+
+AC_INIT([iverilog], [VER_MAJOR.VER_MINOR (VER_EXTRA)])
+AC_SUBST([VERSION_MAJOR], [VER_MAJOR])
+AC_SUBST([VERSION_MINOR], [VER_MINOR])
+AC_SUBST([VERSION_EXTRA], [" (VER_EXTRA)"])
+AC_SUBST([VERSION], ["VER_MAJOR.VER_MINOR (VER_EXTRA)"])
+# used in res.rc
+AC_SUBST([PRODUCTVERSION], ["VER_MAJOR,VER_MINOR,0,0"])
+
 AC_CONFIG_SRCDIR([netlist.h])
 AC_CONFIG_HEADERS([config.h])
 AC_CONFIG_HEADERS([_pli_types.h])
@@ -390,5 +403,31 @@ then
 AC_MSG_ERROR(cannot configure white space in libdir: $libdir)
 fi
 AC_MSG_RESULT(ok)
-AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile ivlpp/Makefile vhdlpp/Makefile vvp/Makefile vpi/Makefile driver/Makefile driver-vpi/Makefile cadpli/Makefile libveriuser/Makefile tgt-null/Makefile tgt-stub/Makefile tgt-vvp/Makefile tgt-vhdl/Makefile tgt-fpga/Makefile tgt-verilog/Makefile tgt-pal/Makefile tgt-vlog95/Makefile tgt-pcb/Makefile tgt-blif/Makefile tgt-sizer/Makefile])
+AC_CONFIG_FILES([
+    Makefile
+    cadpli/Makefile
+    driver-vpi/Makefile
+    driver-vpi/res.rc
+    driver/Makefile
+    driver/iverilog.man
+    iverilog-vpi.man
+    ivlpp/Makefile
+    libveriuser/Makefile
+    tgt-blif/Makefile
+    tgt-fpga/Makefile
+    tgt-null/Makefile
+    tgt-pal/Makefile
+    tgt-pcb/Makefile
+    tgt-sizer/Makefile
+    tgt-stub/Makefile
+    tgt-verilog/Makefile
+    tgt-vhdl/Makefile
+    tgt-vlog95/Makefile
+    tgt-vvp/Makefile
+    version_base.h
+    vhdlpp/Makefile
+    vpi/Makefile
+    vvp/Makefile
+    vvp/vvp.man
+])
 AC_OUTPUT
diff --git a/driver-vpi/Makefile.in b/driver-vpi/Makefile.in
index bb8d66bc2..6a0790cf6 100644
--- a/driver-vpi/Makefile.in
+++ b/driver-vpi/Makefile.in
@@ -95,9 +95,8 @@ else
 endif
 
 # Windows specific...
-res.rc: $(srcdir)/res.rc.in ../version.exe
-	sed -e 's;@PRODUCTVERSION@;'`../version.exe '%M,%n,0,0'`';' \
-	$(srcdir)/res.rc.in > $@
+res.rc: $(srcdir)/res.rc.in ../config.status
+	cd ..; ./config.status --file=driver-vpi/$@
 
 res.o: res.rc
 	$(WINDRES) -i res.rc -o res.o
diff --git a/driver/Makefile.in b/driver/Makefile.in
index 38ab633a9..73f79100f 100644
--- a/driver/Makefile.in
+++ b/driver/Makefile.in
@@ -96,15 +96,14 @@ cfparse%c cfparse%h: $(srcdir)/cfparse%y
 	$(CC) $(CPPFLAGS) $(CFLAGS) @DEPENDENCY_FLAG@ -c $< -o $*.o
 	mv $*.d dep
 
-main.o: main.c globals.h $(srcdir)/../version_base.h ../version_tag.h Makefile | dep
+main.o: main.c globals.h ../version_base.h ../version_tag.h Makefile | dep
 	$(CC) $(CPPFLAGS) $(CFLAGS) @DEPENDENCY_FLAG@ -c -DIVL_ROOT='"@libdir@/ivl$(suffix)"' -DIVL_SUFFIX='"$(suffix)"' -DIVL_INC='"@includedir@"' -DIVL_LIB='"@libdir@"' -DDLLIB='"@DLLIB@"' -DIVL_INCLUDE_INSTALL_DIR="\"$(realpath $(DESTDIR)/$(includedir))\"" $(srcdir)/main.c
 	mv $*.d dep
 
 cflexor.o: cflexor.c cfparse.h
 
-iverilog.man: $(srcdir)/iverilog.man.in ../version.exe
-	../version.exe `head -1 $<`'\n' > $@
-	tail -n +2 $< >> $@
+iverilog.man: $(srcdir)/iverilog.man.in ../config.status
+	cd ..; ./config.status --file=driver/$@
 
 iverilog.ps: iverilog.man
 	$(MAN) -t ./$< > $@
diff --git a/driver/iverilog.man.in b/driver/iverilog.man.in
index 21dbf72dc..4ff682a48 100644
--- a/driver/iverilog.man.in
+++ b/driver/iverilog.man.in
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-.TH iverilog 1 "Jan 13th, 2026" "" "Version %M.%n%E"
+.TH iverilog 1 "Jan 13th, 2026" "" "Version @VERSION@"
 .SH NAME
 iverilog - Icarus Verilog compiler
 
diff --git a/iverilog-vpi.man.in b/iverilog-vpi.man.in
index 23741e1c2..13a85a586 100644
--- a/iverilog-vpi.man.in
+++ b/iverilog-vpi.man.in
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-.TH iverilog-vpi 1 "Jan 13th, 2026" "" "Version %M.%n%E"
+.TH iverilog-vpi 1 "Jan 13th, 2026" "" "Version @VERSION@"
 .SH NAME
 iverilog-vpi - Compile front end for VPI modules
 
diff --git a/ivlpp/Makefile.in b/ivlpp/Makefile.in
index 2fa327d26..7fdd9e2fb 100644
--- a/ivlpp/Makefile.in
+++ b/ivlpp/Makefile.in
@@ -89,4 +89,4 @@ uninstall:
 	rm -f "$(DESTDIR)$(libdir)/ivl$(suffix)/ivlpp@EXEEXT@"
 
 lexor.o: lexor.c globals.h
-main.o: main.c globals.h $(srcdir)/../version_base.h ../version_tag.h
+main.o: main.c globals.h ../version_base.h ../version_tag.h
diff --git a/scripts/CREATE_BRANCH.sh b/scripts/CREATE_BRANCH.sh
index e35546072..440ff0800 100644
--- a/scripts/CREATE_BRANCH.sh
+++ b/scripts/CREATE_BRANCH.sh
@@ -5,10 +5,10 @@
 #
 # 1. It creates a new branch with the proper name.
 #
-# 2. It then updates the version_base.h to match this version. It likely
+# 2. It then updates the configure.ac to match this version. It likely
 #    already does, but it is incorrectly marked as devel instead of stable.
 #
-# 3. It updates the default suffix in aclocal.m4 to match the branch.
+# 3. It updates the default suffix in m4/ax_enable_suffix.m4 to match the branch.
 #
 # Now manually push the new branch to the master repository.
 #
@@ -27,7 +27,8 @@ case $1 in
 esac
 
 major=$1
-
+minor=0
+extra="stable"
 branch="v${major}-branch"
 
 branch_exists=`git ls-remote --heads origin $branch`
@@ -39,16 +40,17 @@ fi
 echo "Creating branch $branch"
 git checkout -b $branch
 
-echo "Updating version_base.h..."
-sed -i -E "s/(define\s+VERSION_MAJOR\s+).*/\1$major/" version_base.h
-sed -i -E "s/(define\s+VERSION_MINOR\s+).*/\10/" version_base.h
-sed -i -E "s/(define\s+VERSION_EXTRA\s+).*/\1\" \(stable\)\"/" version_base.h
+file=configure.ac
+echo "Updating $file..."
+sed -i -E "s/(m4_define\(\[VER_MAJOR\],[[:space:]]*\[)[^]]*(\]\))/\1$major\2/" $file
+sed -i -E "s/(m4_define\(\[VER_MINOR\],[[:space:]]*\[)[^]]*(\]\))/\1$minor\2/" $file
+sed -i -E "s/(m4_define\(\[VER_EXTRA\],[[:space:]]*\[)[^]]*(\]\))/\1$extra\2/" $file
 
-echo "Updating aclocal.m4..."
-sed -i -E "s/(install_suffix='-)dev/\1$major/" aclocal.m4
+echo "Updating m4/ax_enable_suffix.m4..."
+sed -i -E "s/(install_suffix='-)dev/\1$major/" m4/ax_enable_suffix.m4
 
 echo "Adding updated files to the new branch..."
-git add version_base.h aclocal.m4
+git add configure.ac m4/ax_enable_suffix.m4
 git commit -m "Creating new branch $branch"
 
 echo "Done"
diff --git a/scripts/CREATE_RELEASE.sh b/scripts/CREATE_RELEASE.sh
index 9bff3b652..9da7dad02 100644
--- a/scripts/CREATE_RELEASE.sh
+++ b/scripts/CREATE_RELEASE.sh
@@ -4,10 +4,10 @@
 # based on the first and second argument passed to the script, which should
 # be the desired major and minor numbers for the release. Before creating the
 # tag, autoconf.sh will be run to create the configure and lexor_keyword.cc
-# files, the version_base.h and verilog.spec files will be updated to reflect
-# the new release ID and a release_tag.h file will be created in the top level
-# directory to provide the VERSION_TAG macro. After creating the tag, the
-# configure, lexor_keywords.cc, and release_tag.h files will be deleted.
+# files, the verilog.spec file will be updated to reflect the new release ID
+# and a release_tag.h file will be created in the top level directory to
+# provide the VERSION_TAG macro. After creating the tag, the configure,
+# lexor_keywords.cc, and release_tag.h files will be deleted.
 #
 # The complete steps to publish a release are:
 #
@@ -44,6 +44,13 @@ if [ -n "$tag_exists" ] ; then
     exit 1
 fi
 
+extra="stable"
+file=configure.ac
+echo "Updating $file..."
+sed -i -E "s/(m4_define\(\[VER_MAJOR\],[[:space:]]*\[)[^]]*(\]\))/\1$major\2/" $file
+sed -i -E "s/(m4_define\(\[VER_MINOR\],[[:space:]]*\[)[^]]*(\]\))/\1$minor\2/" $file
+sed -i -E "s/(m4_define\(\[VER_EXTRA\],[[:space:]]*\[)[^]]*(\]\))/\1$extra\2/" $file
+
 echo "Executing autoconf.sh..."
 sh autoconf.sh
 if [ $? -ne 0 ] ; then
@@ -51,11 +58,6 @@ if [ $? -ne 0 ] ; then
     exit 1
 fi
 
-echo "Updating version_base.h..."
-sed -i -E "s/(define\s+VERSION_MAJOR\s+).*/\1$major/" version_base.h
-sed -i -E "s/(define\s+VERSION_MINOR\s+).*/\1$minor/" version_base.h
-sed -i -E "s/(define\s+VERSION_EXTRA\s+).*/\1\" \(stable\)\"/" version_base.h
-
 echo "Updating verilog.spec..."
 sed -i -E "s/(define\s+major\s+).*/\1$major/" verilog.spec
 sed -i -E "s/(define\s+minor\s+).*/\1$minor/" verilog.spec
@@ -66,7 +68,7 @@ echo "#define VERSION_TAG \"$tag\"" > release_tag.h
 
 echo "Adding files and creating the tag..."
 git add -f configure lexor_keyword.cc vhdlpp/lexor_keyword.cc
-git add version_base.h verilog.spec release_tag.h
+git add configure.ac verilog.spec release_tag.h
 git commit -m "Creating release $tag"
 git tag -a -m "Release $major.$minor" $tag
 
diff --git a/scripts/CREATE_VERSION.sh b/scripts/CREATE_VERSION.sh
index 450f21370..8cecaba62 100644
--- a/scripts/CREATE_VERSION.sh
+++ b/scripts/CREATE_VERSION.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 
-# This script manually creates a version.h file.
+# This script manually creates a version_tag.h file.
 #
 # It is used when creating a MinGW executable from a Cygwin
 # hosted git repository. It assumes that git is available.
diff --git a/version.c b/version.c
deleted file mode 100644
index 64e4178c2..000000000
--- a/version.c
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,85 +0,0 @@
-/*
- * Copyright (c) 2009-2015 Stephen Williams (steve@icarus.com)
- *
- *    This source code is free software; you can redistribute it
- *    and/or modify it in source code form under the terms of the GNU
- *    General Public License as published by the Free Software
- *    Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option)
- *    any later version.
- *
- *    This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
- *    but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
- *    MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
- *    GNU General Public License for more details.
- *
- *    You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
- *    along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
- *    Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.
- */
-
-# include  "version_base.h"
-# include  "version_tag.h"
-# include  <stdio.h>
-# include  <string.h>
-
-static void run_string(const char*txt)
-{
-      const char*cp = txt;
-      while (*cp) {
-	    if (cp[0] == '%' && cp[1] != 0) {
-		  switch (cp[1]) {
-		      case 'M':
-			fprintf(stdout, "%d", VERSION_MAJOR);
-			break;
-		      case 'n':
-			fprintf(stdout, "%d", VERSION_MINOR);
-			break;
-		      case 'E':
-			fprintf(stdout, "%s", VERSION_EXTRA);
-			break;
-		      case 'T':
-			fprintf(stdout, "%s", VERSION_TAG);
-			break;
-		      case '%':
-			putc('%', stdout);
-			break;
-		      default:
-			break;
-		  }
-		  cp += 2;
-
-	    } else if (cp[0] == '\\' && cp[1] != 0) {
-		  switch (cp[1]) {
-		      case 'n':
-			putc('\n', stdout);
-			break;
-		      default:
-			putc(cp[1], stdout);
-			break;
-		  }
-		  cp += 2;
-
-	    } else {
-		  putc(cp[0], stdout);
-		  cp += 1;
-	    }
-      }
-}
-
-int main(int argc, char*argv[])
-{
-      int idx;
-
-      if (argc == 1) {
-	    printf("%s\n", VERSION);
-	    return 0;
-      }
-
-      run_string(argv[1]);
-      for (idx = 2 ; idx < argc ; idx += 1) {
-	    printf(" ");
-	    run_string(argv[idx]);
-      }
-
-      return 0;
-}
diff --git a/version_base.h b/version_base.h.in
similarity index 52%
rename from version_base.h
rename to version_base.h.in
index 46b0e93eb..750e8c02e 100644
--- a/version_base.h
+++ b/version_base.h.in
@@ -1,16 +1,17 @@
 #ifndef VERSION
 /*
- * Edit this definition in version_base.in to define the base version
- * number for the compiled result.
+ * This file is generated from version_base.h.in by the build system
+ *
+ * WARNING! All changes made in this file will be lost when recompiling!
  */
-# define VERSION_MAJOR  14
-# define VERSION_MINOR   0
+#define VERSION_MAJOR   @VERSION_MAJOR@
+#define VERSION_MINOR   @VERSION_MINOR@
 
 /*
  * This will be appended to the version. Use this to mark development
  * versions and the like.
  */
-# define VERSION_EXTRA   " (devel)"
+# define VERSION_EXTRA   "@VERSION_EXTRA@"
 
 # define VERSION_STRINGIFY(x) #x
 # define VERSION_STR(a,b,extra) VERSION_STRINGIFY(a.b) extra
diff --git a/vvp/Makefile.in b/vvp/Makefile.in
index 0ae99b13b..30f85fdf3 100644
--- a/vvp/Makefile.in
+++ b/vvp/Makefile.in
@@ -186,9 +186,8 @@ parse%cc parse%h: $(srcdir)/parse%y
 lexor.cc: $(srcdir)/lexor.lex
 	$(LEX) -s -o$@ $<
 
-vvp.man: $(srcdir)/vvp.man.in ../version.exe
-	../version.exe `head -1 $<`'\n' > $@
-	tail -n +2 $< >> $@
+vvp.man: $(srcdir)/vvp.man.in ../config.status
+	cd ..; ./config.status --file=vvp/$@
 
 vvp.ps: vvp.man
 	$(MAN) -t ./$< > $@
diff --git a/vvp/vvp.man.in b/vvp/vvp.man.in
index c7d64d9b4..8da9ef816 100644
--- a/vvp/vvp.man.in
+++ b/vvp/vvp.man.in
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-.TH vvp 1 "Jan 13th, 2026" "" "Version %M.%n %E"
+.TH vvp 1 "Jan 13th, 2026" "" "Version @VERSION@"
 .SH NAME
 vvp - Icarus Verilog vvp runtime engine