diff --git a/Makefile.in b/Makefile.in
index 3d208e7..6b56c83 100644
--- a/Makefile.in
+++ b/Makefile.in
@@ -419,6 +419,16 @@ gensymlist.sh: gensymlist.sh.in config.status
 genkernsyms.sh: genkernsyms.sh.in config.status
 	$(SHELL) ./config.status
 
+genversionstr.sh: genversionstr.sh.in config.status
+	$(SHELL) ./config.status
+
+# Build version string
+grub_version.h: genversionstr.sh ChangeLog
+	$(SHELL) ./genversionstr.sh > $@ || (rm -f $@ ; exit 1)
+
+normal_mod-normal_main.o: grub_version.h
+
+
 .PHONY: all install install-strip uninstall clean mostlyclean distclean
 .PHONY: maintainer-clean info dvi dist check
 
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 8b12c58..890cf3d 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -529,6 +529,6 @@ else
   rm -rf include/grub/machine
   cp -rp $srcdir/include/grub/$target_cpu/$platform include/grub/machine 2>/dev/null
 fi
-AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile gensymlist.sh genkernsyms.sh])
+AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile gensymlist.sh genkernsyms.sh genversionstr.sh])
 AC_CONFIG_FILES([stamp-h], [echo timestamp > stamp-h])
 AC_OUTPUT
diff --git a/genversionstr.sh.in b/genversionstr.sh.in
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6e58fb3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/genversionstr.sh.in
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+#! /bin/sh
+#
+# Copyright (C) 2009  Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+#
+# This genversionstr.sh.in is free software; the author
+# gives unlimited permission to copy and/or distribute it,
+# with or without modifications, as long as this notice is preserved.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law; without
+# even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
+# PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
+
+### The configure script will replace these variables.
+
+srcdir=@srcdir@
+
+
+cat <<EOF
+/* This file is automatically generated by genversionstr.sh. DO NOT EDIT! */
+/*
+ *  GRUB  --  GRand Unified Bootloader
+ *  Copyright (C) 2009  Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+ *
+ *  GRUB is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ *  it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+ *  the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+ *  (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ *  GRUB 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 GRUB.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+ */
+
+EOF
+
+
+if sed -n '2,/^20/p' $srcdir/ChangeLog \
+   | grep 'configure.ac (AC_INIT): Bumped' >/dev/null 2>/dev/null
+then
+  # Last entry documents new PACKAGE_VERSION, assume official release
+
+  cat <<EOF
+#ifndef GRUB_VERSION
+  #define GRUB_VERSION PACKAGE_VERSION
+#endif
+EOF
+
+else
+  # Extract most recent date string from ChangeLog.
+  # Append number of log entries for this date.
+  datestr=`
+    sed -n 's,^\(20[0-9][0-9]-[01][0-9]-[0-3][0-9]\) .*$,\1,p;1000q' $srcdir/ChangeLog \
+    | uniq -c \
+    | sed -n 's,^ *\([0-9][0-9]*\) \(20[0-9][0-9]\)-\([01][0-9]\)-\([0-3][0-9]\)$,+\2\3\4-\1,p;1q'
+  `
+
+  # get SVN revision if possible
+  svnstr=
+  if [ -d $srcdir/.svn ] ; then
+    svnstr=`
+      ( cd $srcdir && svn info ) 2> /dev/null \
+      | sed -n 's,^Revision: *\(.*\)$,-r\1,p'
+    `
+  fi
+
+  cat <<EOF
+#ifndef GRUB_VERSION
+  #define GRUB_VERSION PACKAGE_VERSION "${datestr}${svnstr}"
+#endif
+EOF
+fi
+
diff --git a/normal/main.c b/normal/main.c
index 7f6336e..a412827 100644
--- a/normal/main.c
+++ b/normal/main.c
@@ -29,6 +29,8 @@
 #include <grub/reader.h>
 #include <grub/menu_viewer.h>
 
+#include "grub_version.h"
+
 #define GRUB_DEFAULT_HISTORY_SIZE	50
 
 /* Read a line from the file FILE.  */
@@ -375,7 +377,7 @@ grub_normal_init_page (void)
 {
   grub_uint8_t width, margin;
 
-#define TITLE ("GNU GRUB  version " PACKAGE_VERSION)
+#define TITLE ("GNU GRUB  version " GRUB_VERSION)
 
   width = grub_getwh () >> 8;
   margin = (width - (sizeof(TITLE) + 7)) / 2;