diff --git a/libguile/Makefile.am b/libguile/Makefile.am
index 5ffb6f67d..f130dfcc4 100644
--- a/libguile/Makefile.am
+++ b/libguile/Makefile.am
@@ -604,7 +604,8 @@ version.h: version.h.in $(top_builddir)/config.status
 	sed < $(srcdir)/version.h.in > $@.tmp \
 	  -e s:@-GUILE_MAJOR_VERSION-@:${GUILE_MAJOR_VERSION}: \
 	  -e s:@-GUILE_MINOR_VERSION-@:${GUILE_MINOR_VERSION}: \
-	  -e s:@-GUILE_MICRO_VERSION-@:${GUILE_MICRO_VERSION}:
+	  -e s:@-GUILE_MICRO_VERSION-@:${GUILE_MICRO_VERSION}: \
+	  -e s:@-GUILE_EFFECTIVE_VERSION-@:${GUILE_EFFECTIVE_VERSION}:
 	mv $@.tmp $@
 
 ## FIXME: Consider using timestamp file, to avoid unnecessary rebuilds.
diff --git a/libguile/version.c b/libguile/version.c
index db1bc9f2e..f1bd3c3f9 100644
--- a/libguile/version.c
+++ b/libguile/version.c
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-/*	Copyright (C) 1995,1996, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2006, 2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+/*	Copyright (C) 1995,1996, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2006, 2008, 2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
  * 
  * This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
  * modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License
@@ -105,14 +105,7 @@ SCM_DEFINE (scm_effective_version, "effective-version", 0, 0, 0,
 	    "@end lisp")
 #define FUNC_NAME s_scm_effective_version
 {
-
-  char version_str[2 * 4 + 3];
-
-#if (SCM_MAJOR_VERSION > 9999 || SCM_MINOR_VERSION > 9999)
-# error version string may overflow buffer
-#endif
-  sprintf (version_str, "%d.%d", SCM_MAJOR_VERSION, SCM_MINOR_VERSION);
-  return scm_from_locale_string (version_str);
+  return scm_from_locale_string (SCM_EFFECTIVE_VERSION);
 }
 #undef FUNC_NAME
 
diff --git a/libguile/version.h.in b/libguile/version.h.in
index 394bbdb86..49d26c245 100644
--- a/libguile/version.h.in
+++ b/libguile/version.h.in
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 #ifndef SCM_VERSION_H
 #define SCM_VERSION_H
 
-/* Copyright (C) 1995,1996,1998,1999,2000,2001, 2006, 2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+/* Copyright (C) 1995,1996,1998,1999,2000,2001, 2006, 2008, 2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
  *
  * This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
  * modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@
 #define SCM_MAJOR_VERSION @-GUILE_MAJOR_VERSION-@
 #define SCM_MINOR_VERSION @-GUILE_MINOR_VERSION-@
 #define SCM_MICRO_VERSION @-GUILE_MICRO_VERSION-@
+#define SCM_EFFECTIVE_VERSION "@-GUILE_EFFECTIVE_VERSION-@"
 
 SCM_API SCM scm_major_version (void);
 SCM_API SCM scm_minor_version (void);
diff --git a/test-suite/tests/version.test b/test-suite/tests/version.test
index 5b7acc93d..178928768 100644
--- a/test-suite/tests/version.test
+++ b/test-suite/tests/version.test
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 ;;;; versions.test --- test suite for Guile's version functions  -*- scheme -*-
 ;;;; Greg J. Badros <gjb@cs.washington.edu>
 ;;;;
-;;;; 	Copyright (C) 2000, 2001, 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+;;;; 	Copyright (C) 2000, 2001, 2006, 2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
 ;;;; 
 ;;;; This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
 ;;;; modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
@@ -26,7 +26,4 @@
 	      (string=? (version)
 			(string-append (major-version) "."
 				       (minor-version) "."
-				       (micro-version)))
-	      (string=? (effective-version)
-			(string-append (major-version) "."
-				       (minor-version)))))
+				       (micro-version)))))