diff --git a/Makefile.target b/Makefile.target
index 8362294..f94f450 100644
--- a/Makefile.target
+++ b/Makefile.target
@@ -38,8 +38,6 @@ AS_FLAGS+= -g
 
 all: versions dictionaries host-libraries target-libraries host-executables target-executables
 
-VERSION := "1.0"
-
 versions: $(ODIR)/target/include/openbios-version.h $(ODIR)/forth/version.fs
 
 $(ODIR)/forth/version.fs:
@@ -51,8 +49,7 @@ $(ODIR)/forth/version.fs:
 $(ODIR)/target/include/openbios-version.h:
 	@DATE="$(shell echo `LC_ALL=C TZ=UTC date +'%b %e %Y %H:%M'`)" ; \
           ( echo "#define OPENBIOS_BUILD_DATE \"$$DATE\"" ; \
-           echo "#define OPENBIOS_VERSION_STR \"$(VERSION)\"" ; \
-           echo "#define OPENBIOS_RELEASE \"$(VERSION)\"" ; ) \
+           echo "#define OPENBIOS_VERSION_STR \"$(VERSION)\"" ; ) \
          > $(dir $@)/openbios-version.h
 
 info:
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d3827e7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+1.0
diff --git a/arch/ppc/briq/init.c b/arch/ppc/briq/init.c
index 0fbaaa1..5328f51 100644
--- a/arch/ppc/briq/init.c
+++ b/arch/ppc/briq/init.c
@@ -61,7 +61,8 @@ entry( void )
 
 	printk("\n");
 	printk("=============================================================\n");
-	printk("OpenBIOS %s [%s]\n", OPENBIOS_RELEASE, OPENBIOS_BUILD_DATE );
+        printk(PROGRAM_NAME " " OPENBIOS_VERSION_STR " [%s]\n",
+               OPENBIOS_BUILD_DATE);
 
 	ofmem_init();
 	initialize_forth();
diff --git a/arch/ppc/mol/init.c b/arch/ppc/mol/init.c
index 94b6e99..f115271 100644
--- a/arch/ppc/mol/init.c
+++ b/arch/ppc/mol/init.c
@@ -57,7 +57,8 @@ entry( void )
 
 	printk("\n");
 	printk("=============================================================\n");
-	printk("OpenBIOS %s [%s]\n", OPENBIOS_RELEASE, OPENBIOS_BUILD_DATE );
+        printk(PROGRAM_NAME " " OPENBIOS_VERSION_STR " [%s]\n",
+               OPENBIOS_BUILD_DATE);
 
 	ofmem_init();
 	initialize_forth();
diff --git a/arch/ppc/pearpc/init.c b/arch/ppc/pearpc/init.c
index 06c83e5..d9a5f42 100644
--- a/arch/ppc/pearpc/init.c
+++ b/arch/ppc/pearpc/init.c
@@ -64,7 +64,8 @@ entry( void )
 
 	printk("\n");
 	printk("=============================================================\n");
-	printk("OpenBIOS %s [%s]\n", OPENBIOS_RELEASE, OPENBIOS_BUILD_DATE );
+        printk(PROGRAM_NAME " " OPENBIOS_VERSION_STR " [%s]\n",
+               OPENBIOS_BUILD_DATE);
 
 	ofmem_init();
 	initialize_forth();
diff --git a/arch/ppc/qemu/init.c b/arch/ppc/qemu/init.c
index 33633e6..0865d1b 100644
--- a/arch/ppc/qemu/init.c
+++ b/arch/ppc/qemu/init.c
@@ -461,7 +461,8 @@ arch_of_init( void )
 
         printk("\n");
         printk("=============================================================\n");
-        printk("OpenBIOS %s [%s]\n", OPENBIOS_RELEASE, OPENBIOS_BUILD_DATE );
+        printk(PROGRAM_NAME " " OPENBIOS_VERSION_STR " [%s]\n",
+               OPENBIOS_BUILD_DATE);
 
         fw_cfg_read(FW_CFG_SIGNATURE, buf, 4);
         buf[4] = '\0';
diff --git a/arch/unix/unix.c b/arch/unix/unix.c
index a2038b6..d434444 100644
--- a/arch/unix/unix.c
+++ b/arch/unix/unix.c
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@
 #include "openbios/stack.h"
 #include "unix/plugins.h"
 #include "openbios/bindings.h"
+#include "openbios-version.h"
 
 #include "blk.h"
 
@@ -415,11 +416,12 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 
 		switch (c) {
 		case 'V':
-			printk(BANNER "Version " VERSION "\n");
+                        printk(BANNER "Version " OPENBIOS_VERSION_STR "\n");
 			return 0;
 		case 'h':
 		case '?':
-			printk(BANNER "Version " VERSION "\n" USAGE, argv[0]);
+                        printk(BANNER "Version " OPENBIOS_VERSION_STR "\n"
+                               USAGE, argv[0]);
 			return 0;
 		case 'v':
 			verbose = 1;
diff --git a/config/scripts/switch-arch b/config/scripts/switch-arch
index 0a63af0..dfb9a6c 100755
--- a/config/scripts/switch-arch
+++ b/config/scripts/switch-arch
@@ -93,6 +93,8 @@ if test "x$HOSTARCH" = "x"; then
     archname
 fi
 
+VERSION=`head VERSION`
+
 echo "Configuring OpenBIOS on $HOSTARCH for $*"
 for RULES_ARCH in $*; do
     ARCH=`echo $RULES_ARCH | sed s/cross-//g`
@@ -173,6 +175,7 @@ for RULES_ARCH in $*; do
     echo "AS_FLAGS=$AS_FLAGS" >> $ODIR/config.mak
     echo "HOSTARCH?=$HOSTARCH" >> $ODIR/config.mak
     echo "CROSSCFLAGS=$CROSSCFLAGS" >> $ODIR/config.mak
+    echo "VERSION=\"$VERSION\"" >> $ODIR/config.mak
     ln -s $SRCDIR/config/xml/rules.xml $ODIR/rules.xml
     ln -s $SRCDIR/config/examples/${RULES_ARCH}_config.xml $ODIR/config.xml
     ln -s ../Makefile.target $ODIR/Makefile
diff --git a/include/mconfig.h b/include/mconfig.h
index 2edfc4e..0a4decf 100644
--- a/include/mconfig.h
+++ b/include/mconfig.h
@@ -41,9 +41,6 @@
 /* Define to 1 if you have the <unistd.h> header file. */
 #define HAVE_UNISTD_H 1
 
-/* Minor OpenBIOS version */
-#define MINOR_VERSION 0
-
 /* Define to the address where bug reports for this package should be sent. */
 #define PACKAGE_BUGREPORT ""
 
@@ -59,15 +56,9 @@
 /* Define to the version of this package. */
 #define PACKAGE_VERSION ""
 
-/* Patchlevel */
-#define PATCH_LEVEL RC1
-
 /* Define to 1 if you have the ANSI C header files. */
 #define STDC_HEADERS 1
 
-/* Version */
-#define VERSION "1.0"
-
 /* Define to 1 if `lex' declares `yytext' as a `char *' by default, not a
    `char[]'. */
 #define YYTEXT_POINTER 1
diff --git a/include/openbios/config.h b/include/openbios/config.h
index f9fd66e..917ddd6 100644
--- a/include/openbios/config.h
+++ b/include/openbios/config.h
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@
 #include "asm/types.h"
 
 #define PROGRAM_NAME "OpenBIOS"
-#define PROGRAM_VERSION VERSION
 
 #ifndef BOOTSTRAP
 
diff --git a/kernel/bootstrap.c b/kernel/bootstrap.c
index b3840cc..48bb413 100644
--- a/kernel/bootstrap.c
+++ b/kernel/bootstrap.c
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 #include "openbios/kernel.h"
 #include "dict.h"
 #include "cross.h"
+#include "openbios-version.h"
 
 
 #define MEMORY_SIZE (1024*1024)	/* 1M ram for hosted system */
@@ -992,11 +993,12 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 
 		switch (c) {
 		case 'V':
-			printk("Version " VERSION "\n");
+                        printk("Version " OPENBIOS_VERSION_STR "\n");
 			return 0;
 		case 'h':
 		case '?':
-			printk("Version " VERSION "\n" USAGE, argv[0]);
+                        printk("Version " OPENBIOS_VERSION_STR "\n" USAGE,
+                               argv[0]);
 			return 0;
 		case 'v':
 			verbose = 1;
diff --git a/modules/elfnote.c b/modules/elfnote.c
index 01fdf74..f46c881 100644
--- a/modules/elfnote.c
+++ b/modules/elfnote.c
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 #include "sys_info.h"
 #include "asm/io.h"
 #include "ipchecksum.h"
+#include "openbios-version.h"
 #define printf printk
 #define debug  printk
 
@@ -19,7 +20,7 @@ struct elf_image_note {
 
     Elf_Nhdr hdr1;
     char name1[sizeof(ELF_NOTE_BOOT)];
-    char version[sizeof(PROGRAM_VERSION)];
+    char version[sizeof(OPENBIOS_VERSION_STR)];
 
     Elf_Nhdr hdr2;
     char name2[sizeof(ELF_NOTE_BOOT)];
@@ -39,11 +40,11 @@ const struct elf_image_note elf_image_notes
 
     .hdr1 = {
 	.n_namesz = sizeof(ELF_NOTE_BOOT),
-	.n_descsz = sizeof(PROGRAM_VERSION),
+        .n_descsz = sizeof(OPENBIOS_VERSION_STR),
 	.n_type = EIN_PROGRAM_VERSION,
     },
     .name1 = ELF_NOTE_BOOT,
-    .version = PROGRAM_VERSION,
+    .version = OPENBIOS_VERSION_STR,
 
     .hdr2 = {
 	.n_namesz = sizeof(ELF_NOTE_BOOT),
@@ -81,7 +82,7 @@ const char *program_version = elf_image_notes.version;
 	.int EIN_PROGRAM_VERSION
 1:	.asciz "ELFBoot"
 2:	.align 4
-3:	.asciz PROGRAM_VERSION
+3:      .asciz OPENBIOS_VERSION_STR
 4:
 
 	.align 4