diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..754c5f9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+0.4.4
+
+
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index e8cb22e..fbff080 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 dnl Process this file with autoconf to produce a configure script.
 
-AC_INIT(libsxmp, 0.4.4)
+AC_INIT(libsxmp, m4_esyscmd([tr -d '\n' < VERSION]))
 
 AC_CONFIG_HEADERS([config.h])