diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 023753457..0521a8441 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1,5 +1,13 @@
 dnl Process this file with autoconf to produce a configure script.
-AC_INIT
+m4_define([VER_MAJOR], [14])
+m4_define([VER_MINOR], [0])
+m4_define([VER_EXTRA], [stable])
+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)"])
+
 AC_CONFIG_SRCDIR([netlist.h])
 AC_CONFIG_HEADERS([config.h])
 AC_CONFIG_HEADERS([_pli_types.h])
@@ -366,5 +374,5 @@ 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 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 version_base.h])
 AC_OUTPUT
diff --git a/scripts/CREATE_BRANCH.sh b/scripts/CREATE_BRANCH.sh
index e35546072..9e717e062 100644
--- a/scripts/CREATE_BRANCH.sh
+++ b/scripts/CREATE_BRANCH.sh
@@ -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`
@@ -39,10 +40,11 @@ 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
diff --git a/version_base.h b/version_base.h.in
similarity index 76%
rename from version_base.h
rename to version_base.h.in
index 46b0e93eb..a0064332c 100644
--- a/version_base.h
+++ b/version_base.h.in
@@ -3,14 +3,14 @@
  * Edit this definition in version_base.in to define the base version
  * number for the compiled result.
  */
-# 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