diff --git a/src/GNUmakefile.in b/src/GNUmakefile.in
index 760ec9268..8229e7828 100644
--- a/src/GNUmakefile.in
+++ b/src/GNUmakefile.in
@@ -1,15 +1,15 @@
-# Helps update the version number automatically if using GNU make.
-include Makefile
+# @configure_input@
 
-AUTORECONF ?= autoreconf
-AUTORECONF_OPTS ?= -vis
+include Makefile
 
-script_version := $(shell $(top_srcdir)/build-helpers/package-version $(top_srcdir) version-stamp)
-ifneq ($(PACKAGE_VERSION),$(script_version))
-$(info autoconf and script versions do not match: $(PACKAGE_VERSION) vs $(script_version))
-$(info Removing autom4te.cache and related files and re-running autoreconf)
-dummy1 := $(shell rm -rf $(top_srcdir)/autom4te.cache)
-dummy2 := $(shell $(AUTORECONF) $(AUTORECONF_OPTS) $(top_srcdir))
+need_to_rerun := $(shell $(top_srcdir)/build-helpers/versioninfo.sh "$(top_srcdir)" "@VERSIONINFO_STAMPFILE@" | { @VERSIONINFO_READ@; \
+         if @VERSIONINFO_IS_UNCHANGED@ \
+           echo "no"; \
+         fi; } )
+ifneq (no,$(need_to_rerun))
+$(info Recorded and current version information do not match.)
+$(info Re-running autoreconf via bootstrap.)
+dummy1 := $(shell echo $(top_srcdir)/bootstrap)
 endif
 
 # vim: syntax=make
diff --git a/src/Makefile.am b/src/Makefile.am
index 58bd116b7..8515aaec7 100644
--- a/src/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/Makefile.am
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ CLEANFILES = \
 	config_gram.h \
 	lexer.c
 
-include build-helpers/package-version.mk
+include build-helpers/versioninfo.mk
 
 BUILT_SOURCES = $(CLEANFILES)
 
@@ -248,4 +248,4 @@ backup-avrdude-conf:
 			${DESTDIR}${sysconfdir}/avrdude.conf.bak; \
 	fi
 
-ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS = -I m4
+ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS = -I m4 -I build-helpers
diff --git a/src/build-helpers/package-version b/src/build-helpers/package-version
deleted file mode 100755
index beb5b36ca..000000000
--- a/src/build-helpers/package-version
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,102 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/sh
-# Syntax:
-#   $0 <path-to-top_srcdir> <version-stamp-file>
-#
-# <path-to-top_srcdir> may be relative
-# <version-stamp-file> is relative to the dist top_srcdir
-#
-# Test this script by running
-#     rm -rf autom4te.cache/ && autoreconf -vis . && sed -n "/^# Generated by GNU/p" configure
-#
-# If we run into an error, we cannot abort the "autoreconf" run by
-# exiting with a non-0 error code. (We do exit non-0 in that case
-# anyway for help when testing this script.)
-# The only thing we can do to report an error is to write to stderr
-# which appears as "autoreconf" output, and to write a version number
-# to stdout which indicates an error. The "configure" script can
-# then check whether $PACKAGE_VERSION indicates such an error.
-
-# Parse the command line arguments
-prog="$(basename "$0")"
-top_srcdir="${1-.}"
-test -d "$top_srcdir" || { \
-    echo "$prog: Error: Could not change to top_srcdir '$1'" >&2; \
-    echo "version_error_1" | ${TR-tr} -d '\012'
-    exit 2; \
-}
-version_stamp="${2-version-stamp}"
-
-# echo "$prog: Error: Some error happend." >&2
-# echo "version_error_2" | ${TR-tr} -d '\012'
-# exit 2
-
-# Is this a dist source tree?
-# If so, use the version number from the version_stamp file.
-if test -f "$top_srcdir/$version_stamp"; then
-    cat "$top_srcdir/$version_stamp" | ${TR-tr} -d '\012'
-    exit
-fi
-
-# Is this part of a git checkout or an expanded github snapshot tarball?
-test -f "$top_srcdir/../CMakeLists.txt" || { \
-    echo "$prog: Error: top-level avrdude CMakeLists.txt file not found" >&2; \
-    echo "version_error_3" | ${TR-tr} -d '\012'
-    exit 2; \
-}
-
-if PROJECT_VERSION="$(${SED-sed} -n 's/project(avrdude[[:space:]]\{1,\}VERSION[[:space:]]\{1,\}\([0-9\.]\{1,\}\)[[:space:]]\{1,\}.*/\1/p' "$top_srcdir/../CMakeLists.txt")"; then
-    :
-else
-    echo "$prog: Error parsing top-level avrdude 'CMakeLists.txt'." >&2
-    echo "version_error_4" | ${TR-tr} -d '\012'
-    exit 2
-fi
-
-test -n "$PROJECT_VERSION" || { \
-    echo "$prog: Error: Could not find project(...) in top-level avrdude 'CMakeLists.txt'" >&2; \
-    echo "version_error_5" | ${TR-tr} -d '\012'
-    exit 2; \
-}
-
-# If GIT_DIR is set, use it. If not, try "$top_srcdir/../.git".
-test -n "$GIT_DIR" || { \
-    GIT_DIR="$top_srcdir/../.git"; \
-    export GIT_DIR; \
-}
-
-# Working with a git source tree
-if test -d "$GIT_DIR"; then
-    GIT_COMMIT_HASH="$(${GIT-git} log -1 --format=%h)" || { \
-        echo "$prog: Error: Cannot run 'git log' for commit hash" >&2; \
-        echo "version_error_71" | ${TR-tr} -d '\012'; \
-        exit 2; \
-    }
-    GIT_COMMIT_DATE="$(${GIT-git} log -1 --format=%cd --date=format:%Y%m%d)" || { \
-        echo "$prog: Error: Cannot run 'git log' for commit date" >&2; \
-        echo "version_error_72" | ${TR-tr} -d '\012'; \
-        exit 2; \
-    }
-    GIT_TAG_HASH="$(${GIT-git} log -1 --tags --format=%h)" || { \
-        echo "$prog: Error: Cannot run 'git log' for tag hash" >&2; \
-        echo "version_error_73" | ${TR-tr} -d '\012'; \
-        exit 2; \
-    }
-    if test "x$GIT_COMMIT_HASH" = "x$GIT_TAG_HASH"; then
-        echo "${PROJECT_VERSION}" | ${TR-tr} -d '\012'
-        exit
-    else
-        echo "${PROJECT_VERSION}-${GIT_COMMIT_DATE}" | ${TR-tr} -d '\012'
-        exit
-    fi
-else
-    # Building a github release tarball or github snapshot tarball.
-    #
-    # Presume this is a release version, because who would build a
-    # non-release version from a snapshot tarball?
-    echo "${PROJECT_VERSION}" | ${TR-tr} -d '\012'
-    exit
-fi
-
-# If everything else has failed, call this version "devel"
-echo "devel" | ${TR-tr} -d '\012'
-exit 2
diff --git a/src/build-helpers/package-version.mk b/src/build-helpers/package-version.mk
deleted file mode 100644
index 01502dfd5..000000000
--- a/src/build-helpers/package-version.mk
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,26 +0,0 @@
-BUILD_SCRIPT_DIR = build-helpers
-
-# Check that package version matches git version before creating dist tarballs
-dist-hook: cur-version-check cur-version-stamp
-distcheck-hook: cur-version-check
-
-# Note: We cannot run autoreconf from here, because we would need some way to
-#       restart the whole dist process from the start and there is none.
-EXTRA_DIST += $(top_srcdir)/$(BUILD_SCRIPT_DIR)/package-version
-cur-version-check:
-	@cur_ver=`$(top_srcdir)/$(BUILD_SCRIPT_DIR)/package-version $(top_srcdir) version-stamp`; \
-	if test "x$${cur_ver}" = "x$(PACKAGE_VERSION)"; then :; else \
-		echo "ERROR: Recorded PACKAGE_VERSION and current version do not match:"; \
-		echo "         current  version:         $${cur_ver}"; \
-		echo "         recorded PACKAGE_VERSION: $(PACKAGE_VERSION)"; \
-		rm -rf "$(top_srcdir)/autom4te.cache"; \
-		echo "Update PACKAGE_VERSION by running autoreconf(1)."; \
-		exit 1; \
-	fi
-
-# Version stamp files can only exist in tarball source trees.
-#
-# So there is no need to generate them anywhere else or to clean them
-# up anywhere.
-cur-version-stamp:
-	echo "$(PACKAGE_VERSION)" > "$(distdir)/version-stamp"
diff --git a/src/build-helpers/versioninfo.m4 b/src/build-helpers/versioninfo.m4
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..30e36d6e9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/build-helpers/versioninfo.m4
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+# versioninfo.m4 - find avrdude version information for msg  -*- Autoconf -*-
+# serial 1
+dnl | Increment the above serial number every time you edit this file.
+dnl | When it finds multiple m4 files with the same name,
+dnl | aclocal will use the one with the highest serial.
+dnl
+dnl The sequence of version info items to store in the version-stamp file.
+dnl This must be the same sequence as the versioninfo script writes.
+m4_pattern_forbid([versioninfo_items])
+m4_define([versioninfo_items], [
+  [CMAKE_PROJECT_VERSION],
+  [GIT_COMMIT_DATE],
+  [GIT_COMMIT_HASH],
+  [GIT_TAG_HASH]
+])
+dnl
+dnl Initialize version info from the script command given as macro argument.
+m4_pattern_forbid([versioninfo_init])
+m4_define([versioninfo_init], [
+  m4_pushdef([versioninfo_split], m4_split(m4_esyscmd($1),m4_newline))
+  m4_case(m4_sysval, [0], [
+    m4_for([N], [1], m4_count(versioninfo_split), [1], [
+      m4_define([versioninfo_]m4_normalize(m4_argn(N, versioninfo_items)),
+                m4_normalize(m4_argn(N, versioninfo_split)))
+    ])
+  ], [
+    m4_fatal([versioninfo script returned non-0])
+  ])
+])
+dnl
+m4_define([versioninfo_stampfile], [versioninfo-stamp])
+dnl
+versioninfo_init([./build-helpers/versioninfo.sh . ]m4_defn([versioninfo_stampfile]))
+dnl
+dnl
+dnl
+dnl ========================================================================
+dnl VERSIONINFO_SETUP()
+dnl ========================================================================
+dnl
+AC_DEFUN([VERSIONINFO_SETUP], [dnl
+m4_foreach([ITEM], [versioninfo_items], [dnl
+  AC_SUBST(m4_normalize(ITEM), [m4_defn([versioninfo_]m4_normalize(ITEM))])
+  AC_MSG_CHECKING([versioninfo item ]m4_normalize(ITEM))
+  AC_MSG_RESULT([$]m4_normalize(ITEM))
+])
+dnl
+dnl Define helper substitutions containing shell code for use inside
+dnl make recipes in build-helpers/versioninfo.mk and $(shell ...)
+dnl calls in GNUmakefile.in dealing with version info.
+dnl
+AC_SUBST([VERSIONINFO_STAMPFILE], [m4_defn([versioninfo_stampfile])])
+AM_SUBST_NOTMAKE([VERSIONINFO_WRITE])
+dnl
+AC_SUBST([VERSIONINFO_READ],
+         ['m4_foreach([ITEM], [versioninfo_items], [read m4_normalize(ITEM); ]):'])
+AM_SUBST_NOTMAKE([VERSIONINFO_READ])
+dnl
+AC_SUBST([VERSIONINFO_WRITE],
+         ['printf "%s\n"m4_foreach([ITEM], [versioninfo_items], [ "$(m4_normalize(ITEM))"])'])
+AM_SUBST_NOTMAKE([VERSIONINFO_WRITE])
+dnl
+AC_SUBST([VERSIONINFO_IS_UNCHANGED],
+         ['false; then :; m4_foreach([ITEM], [versioninfo_items], [elif test "x$(m4_normalize(ITEM))" != "x$$m4_normalize(ITEM)"; then printf "%s has changed from %s to %s\n" "m4_normalize(ITEM)" "$(m4_normalize(ITEM))" "$$m4_normalize(ITEM)" >&2; ]) else '])
+AM_SUBST_NOTMAKE([VERSIONINFO_IS_UNCHANGED])
+dnl
+])dnl
+dnl
+dnl ####################################################################
+dnl
+dnl Local Variables:
+dnl mode: autoconf
+dnl End:
diff --git a/src/build-helpers/versioninfo.md b/src/build-helpers/versioninfo.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..965e06b40
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/build-helpers/versioninfo.md
@@ -0,0 +1,143 @@
+The versioninfo mechanism
+=========================
+
+This describes the versioninfo mechanism which automatically generates
+the version information for use in `configure.ac` and then the rest of
+the autotools build system.
+
+
+The basic idea
+--------------
+
+The main goals are
+
+  * Avoid the need for avrdude maintainers to edit the avrdude version
+    in the autotools buildsystem's `configure.ac` in addition to the
+    cmake buildsystem's main `CMakeLists.txt` file.
+
+  * Have the autotools buildsystem generate the same version message as
+    the cmake buildsystem in both the `avrdude.conf` file and the
+    `avrdude -?` output version message.
+
+To achieve this, we need to replicate some of the logic from the
+top-level `CMakeLists.txt` which creates the `AVRDUDE_FULL_VERSION`
+variable.
+
+We run this logic mostly at bootstrap/autoreconf time, with the
+`configure` propagating the information, so that some `make` time
+checks can determine whether the bootstrap code needs to be re-run,
+and re-run it automatically if possible.
+
+
+All the different build types
+-----------------------------
+
+There are many ways to build avrdude.
+
+There are three types of source trees:
+
+  * a git clone's working directory with a `.git/` directory
+
+  * an extracted GitHub tarball/zipfile (contains the same as a git
+    clone's working directory, but no `.git/` directory with its
+    associated git commit information)
+
+  * from a dist tarball as generated by the autotools buildsystem's
+    `make dist` or `make distcheck` commands (contains the required
+    git commit information inside the versioninfo-stamp file)
+
+In any of these cases, this can be an avrdude release or non-release,
+determined by whether the latest commit's hash is equal to the latest
+tag's commit's hash (`GIT_COMMIT_HASH == GIT_TAG_HASH`).
+
+In principle, any of these source types could be built with either the
+cmake buildsystem or the autotools buildsystem. With `configure.ac`
+being rooted in the `src/` subdirectory though, the dist tarball
+generated by `make dist` cannot contain files outside of `src/` which
+are required for a cmake build.
+
+In all types of builds, we want the same version message when building
+using the autotools buildsystem as the cmake buildsystem creates:
+
+  * `7.3` for a release
+  * `7.3-20240213 (9634fd15)` with commit date and commit hash for a
+    non-release.
+
+If we abbreviate those types of version messages with `R` for release
+and `H` for hash, we can put all cases into a table. `BS` stands for
+buildsystem, obviously.
+
+```
+                               Version_Message
+SOURCE TYPE     BS  Release?   Wanted  Actual
+git clone wd    cm  yes        R       R
+git clone wd    cm  no         H       H
+github tarball  cm  yes        R       R
+github tarball  cm  no         H       R (wrong/missing info)
+dist tarball    cm  yes        R       cmake build N/A at this time
+dist tarball    cm  no         H       cmake build N/A at this time
+
+git clone wd    am  yes        R       R
+git clone wd    am  no         H       H
+github tarball  am  yes        R       R
+github tarball  am  no         H       R (wrong/missing info/like cmake)
+dist tarball    am  yes        R       R
+dist tarball    am  no         H       H
+```
+
+As the github tarball (like the github zipfile) does not contain any
+commit/tag information, it is impossible for any buildsystem to
+determine whether building a release or non-release.
+
+The dist tarball generated by the autotools buildsystem's `make dist`
+does contain the commit/tag information, so builds from such a dist
+tarball can correctly determine whether they are building a release or
+a non-release source tree. However, only builds using the autotools
+buildsystem are possible as long as the `configure.ac` file is located
+inside the `src/` subdirectory instead of the top-level directory.
+
+
+The `build-helpers/versioninfo.sh` script file
+----------------------------------------------
+
+The `versioninfo.sh` script tries to determine the version and git
+information from the raw sources:
+
+  * The version number (`7.3`) is determined from the top-level
+    `CMakeLists.txt` file's `project(... VERSION ...)` line.
+
+  * The information on the latest git commit date and hash and git tag
+    hash is determined from the `.git/` subdirectory corresponding to
+    the top-level `CMakeLIsts.txt` file.
+
+The `versioninfo.sh` script then prints these items, one per line.
+
+
+The `build-helpers/versioninfo.m4` m4 include file
+--------------------------------------------------
+
+TODO: Write text.
+
+
+The `build-helpers/versioninfo.mk` Makefile include file
+--------------------------------------------------------
+
+TODO: Write text.
+
+
+The `configure.ac` file
+-----------------------
+
+TODO: Write text.
+
+
+The `GNUmakefile.in` and `GNUmakefile` files
+--------------------------------------------
+
+If you are running GNU make, the `GNUmakefile` file generated from the
+`GNUmakefile.in` file will update the versioninfo automatically before
+executing any possible make recipes.
+
+If you are not running GNU make, you will need to run the command to
+update the versioninfo update command manually. You will be shown that
+command if necessary.
diff --git a/src/build-helpers/versioninfo.mk b/src/build-helpers/versioninfo.mk
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7978bc2ec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/build-helpers/versioninfo.mk
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+# -*- makefile-automake -*-
+
+EXTRA_DIST += build-helpers/versioninfo.m4
+EXTRA_DIST += build-helpers/versioninfo.md
+EXTRA_DIST += build-helpers/versioninfo.sh
+
+# Before creating dist tarballs, check that autom4te version matches
+# versioninfo script version.
+dist-hook: versioninfo-check versioninfo-stamp
+distcheck-hook: versioninfo-check
+
+# Note: We cannot run autoreconf from this make recipe, because we would
+#       need some way to restart the whole dist process from the start
+#       and there is none.
+versioninfo-check:
+	@:; \
+	$(top_srcdir)/build-helpers/versioninfo.sh "$(top_srcdir)" "@VERSIONINFO_STAMPFILE@" \
+	| ( @VERSIONINFO_READ@; \
+	    if @VERSIONINFO_IS_UNCHANGED@ \
+	      exit 0; \
+	    fi; \
+	    rm -rf "$(top_srcdir)/autom4te.cache"; \
+	    echo "Update the recorded version information by re-running bootstrap/autoreconf(1)."; \
+	    exit 1; )
+
+# Version stamp files can only exist in tarball source trees.
+#
+# So there is no need to generate them anywhere else or to clean them
+# up anywhere.
+versioninfo-stamp:
+	@VERSIONINFO_WRITE@ > "$(distdir)/versioninfo-stamp"
diff --git a/src/build-helpers/versioninfo.sh b/src/build-helpers/versioninfo.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..58ebc9c6d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/build-helpers/versioninfo.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,118 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+# Syntax:
+#   $0 <path-to-top_srcdir> <versioninfo-stamp-file>
+#
+# <path-to-top_srcdir> may be relative
+# <versioninfo-stamp-file> is relative to the dist top_srcdir
+#
+# Test this script by running something like
+#     rm -rf autom4te.cache/ && autoreconf -vis . && sed -n "/^# Generated by GNU/p" configure
+#
+# On error handling
+# -----------------
+#
+# If we run into an error, we write an error message to stderr and exit
+# with a non-0 code. The caller can then check the exit code, and the
+# user can read the message from stderr.
+
+
+# Parse the command line arguments
+prog="$(basename "$0")"
+top_srcdir="${1-.}"
+versioninfo_stamp="${2-versioninfo-stamp}"
+
+
+# global settings
+verbose=false
+
+
+# Usage example:
+#   ret_error "Something is wrong: answer != 42"
+ret_error() {
+    printf "$prog: error: %s\n" "$1" >&2
+    exit 1
+}
+
+
+# Usage examples:
+#   ret_ok "7.3"
+#   ret_ok "7.3" "20231231"
+#   ret_ok "7.3" "20231231" "0123abcd"
+#   ret_ok "7.3" "20231231" "0123abcd" "4567cdef"
+ret_ok() {
+    if $verbose; then
+	printf "$prog: version info from cmake/git: %s\n" "$*" >&2
+    fi
+    printf "%s\n" "$@"
+    exit 0
+}
+
+
+# Usage example:
+#  ret_ok_file "$top_srcdir/$versioninfo_stamp"
+ret_ok_file() {
+    if $verbose; then
+	printf "$prog: version information from file: %s\n" "$1" >&2
+    fi
+    cat "$1"
+    exit 0
+}
+
+
+# Uncomment the following line to help debug the error case
+# ret_error "Some error happened for testing purposes"
+
+
+test -d "$top_srcdir" || \
+    ret_error "Could not change to top_srcdir '$1'"
+
+
+# If this is a "make dist" source tree, use info from versioninfo_stamp file.
+if test -f "$top_srcdir/$versioninfo_stamp"; then
+    ret_ok_file "$top_srcdir/$versioninfo_stamp"
+fi
+
+
+# This must be part of a git checkout or an expanded github snapshot tarball.
+test -f "$top_srcdir/../CMakeLists.txt" || \
+    ret_error "top-level avrdude CMakeLists.txt file not found"
+
+
+# Find and parse "project(...)" line in top-level CmakeLists.txt file
+if PROJECT_VERSION="$(${SED-sed} -n 's/project(avrdude[[:space:]]\{1,\}VERSION[[:space:]]\{1,\}\([0-9\.]\{1,\}\)[[:space:]]\{1,\}.*/\1/p' "$top_srcdir/../CMakeLists.txt")"; then
+    :
+else
+    ret_error "Error parsing top-level avrdude 'CMakeLists.txt'."
+fi
+
+test -n "$PROJECT_VERSION" || \
+    ret_error "Cannot find project(...) in top-level avrdude 'CMakeLists.txt'"
+
+
+# If GIT_DIR is set, use it. If not, try "$top_srcdir/../.git".
+test -n "$GIT_DIR" || { \
+    GIT_DIR="$top_srcdir/../.git"; \
+    export GIT_DIR; \
+}
+
+
+# If working with a git source tree, determine git information
+if test -d "$GIT_DIR" && ${GIT-git} --version > /dev/null 2>&1; then
+    GIT_COMMIT_HASH="$(${GIT-git} log -1 --format=%h)" || \
+	ret_error "$prog: Cannot run 'git log' for commit hash"
+    GIT_COMMIT_DATE="$(${GIT-git} log -1 --format=%cd --date=format:%Y%m%d)" || \
+	ret_error "$prog: Error: Cannot run 'git log' for commit date"
+    GIT_TAG_HASH="$(${GIT-git} log -1 --tags --format=%h)" || \
+	ret_error "$prog: Cannot run 'git log' for tag hash"
+    # This must be the same sequence as versioninfo_items in configure.ac
+    ret_ok "${PROJECT_VERSION}" \
+	   "${GIT_COMMIT_DATE}" "${GIT_COMMIT_HASH}" "${GIT_TAG_HASH}"
+else # This is a github release tarball or github snapshot tarball
+    # Presume this is a release version, because who would build a
+    # non-release version from a snapshot tarball?
+    ret_ok "${PROJECT_VERSION}"
+fi
+
+
+# This code should never be reached.
+ret_error "$prog: This code should never be reached."
diff --git a/src/configure.ac b/src/configure.ac
index 7b2a26071..7100c6a5f 100644
--- a/src/configure.ac
+++ b/src/configure.ac
@@ -35,9 +35,19 @@ dnl 2013-06-20 automake 1.14
 dnl 2018-02-25 automake 1.16
 dnl 2018-03-11 automake 1.16.1  install-sh symlink fix
 
+
+dnl Change this definition if you want to change the dist tarball name
+dnl pattern from avrdude-7.3 for releases and avrdude-7.3-${COMMIT_DATE}
+dnl for snapshots.
+m4_define([versioninfo_AVRDUDE_PACKAGE_VERSION],
+          m4_case(m4_defn([versioninfo_GIT_COMMIT_HASH]),
+	          m4_defn([versioninfo_GIT_TAG_HASH]),
+	          m4_defn([versioninfo_CMAKE_PROJECT_VERSION]),
+		  m4_defn([versioninfo_CMAKE_PROJECT_VERSION])-m4_defn([versioninfo_GIT_COMMIT_DATE])))
+
 AC_PREREQ([2.69])
 AC_INIT([avrdude],
-        [m4_esyscmd(./build-helpers/package-version . version-stamp)],
+        m4_defn([versioninfo_AVRDUDE_PACKAGE_VERSION]),
         [https://github.com/avrdudes/avrdude/issues])
 
 AC_CANONICAL_BUILD
@@ -45,32 +55,38 @@ AC_CANONICAL_HOST
 AC_CANONICAL_TARGET
 
 AC_CONFIG_SRCDIR([main.c])
-AC_CONFIG_HEADERS([ac_cfg.h])
 AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR([auto-aux])
+AC_CONFIG_HEADERS([ac_cfg.h])
 AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR([m4])
 
 AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([
   1.14
   foreign
+  subdir-objects
 ])
 
 AM_SILENT_RULES([yes])
 
 
-# Check that the build-helpers/package-version script has worked properly.
-case "$PACKAGE_VERSION" in
-    devel|version_error_*)
-	AC_MSG_ERROR([
-Autogenerating the package version (${PACKAGE_VERSION}) has failed.
+VERSIONINFO_SETUP()
 
-Please file an issue at ${PACKAGE_BUGREPORT}
+dnl Inform about the derived PACKAGE_VERSION
+AC_MSG_CHECKING([versioninfo derived PACKAGE_VERSION])
+AC_MSG_RESULT([$PACKAGE_VERSION])
 
-You can write some version number to the file version-stamp as a
-workaround to allow building avrdude until the filed issue has been
-fixed.
-])
-	;;
-esac
+dnl Compose the full version message mirroring the cmake one, inform
+dnl about it and pass it on to avrdude.conf and the "avrdude -?"
+dnl version message
+AC_MSG_CHECKING([versioninfo derived AVRDUDE_FULL_VERSION])
+if test "x$GIT_COMMIT_HASH" = "x$GIT_TAG_HASH"; then
+	AVRDUDE_FULL_VERSION="$PACKAGE_VERSION"
+else
+	AVRDUDE_FULL_VERSION="$PACKAGE_VERSION ($GIT_COMMIT_HASH)"
+fi
+AC_MSG_RESULT([$AVRDUDE_FULL_VERSION])
+AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED([AVRDUDE_FULL_VERSION], ["$AVRDUDE_FULL_VERSION"],
+                   [The full avrdude version as displayed in -? and avrdude.conf])
+AC_SUBST([AVRDUDE_FULL_VERSION])
 
 
 # Checks for programs.
@@ -607,12 +623,6 @@ AC_CONFIG_FILES([
        GNUmakefile
 ])
 
-# Pass version number into avrdude.conf
-dnl AVRDUDE_FULL_VERSION="${PACKAGE_VERSION} (${GIT_COMMIT_HASH})"
-AVRDUDE_FULL_VERSION="$PACKAGE_VERSION"
-AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED([AVRDUDE_FULL_VERSION], ["$AVRDUDE_FULL_VERSION"],
-                   [The full avrdude version as displayed in -? and avrdude.conf])
-AC_SUBST([AVRDUDE_FULL_VERSION])
 
 # The procedure to create avrdude.conf involves two steps.  First,
 # normal autoconf substitution will be applied, resulting in