diff --git a/commands/core/archive.drush.inc b/commands/core/archive.drush.inc
index acd7cb1976..c52990a43e 100644
--- a/commands/core/archive.drush.inc
+++ b/commands/core/archive.drush.inc
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ function archive_drush_command() {
       'destination' => 'The full path and filename in which the archive should be stored. If omitted, it will be saved to the drush-backups directory and a filename will be generated.',
       'overwrite' => 'Do not fail if the destination file exists; overwrite it instead. Default is --no-overwrite.',
       'generator' => 'The generator name to store in the MANIFEST file. The default is "Drush archive-dump".',
-      'generatorversion' => 'The generator version number to store in the MANIFEST file. The default is ' . DRUSH_VERSION . '.',
+      'generatorversion' => 'The generator version number to store in the MANIFEST file. The default is ' . Drush::getMajorVersion() . '.',
       'pipe' => 'Only print the destination of the archive. Useful for scripts that don\'t pass --destination.',
       'preserve-symlinks' => 'Preserve symbolic links.',
       'no-core' => 'Exclude Drupal core, so the backup only contains the site specific stuff.',
@@ -232,7 +232,7 @@ function drush_archive_dump($sites_subdirs = '@self') {
     'datestamp' => time(),
     'formatversion' => '1.0',
     'generator' => drush_get_option('generator', 'Drush archive-dump'),
-    'generatorversion' => drush_get_option('generatorversion', DRUSH_VERSION),
+    'generatorversion' => drush_get_option('generatorversion', Drush::getMajorVersion()),
     'description' => drush_get_option('description', ''),
     'tags' => drush_get_option('tags', ''),
     'archiveformat' => ($include_platform ? 'platform' : 'site'),
diff --git a/commands/core/core.drush.inc b/commands/core/core.drush.inc
index 13790146c8..a494883dc9 100644
--- a/commands/core/core.drush.inc
+++ b/commands/core/core.drush.inc
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
  */
 
 use Drush\Log\LogLevel;
+use SebastianBergmann\Version;
 
 /**
  * Implementation of hook_drush_help().
@@ -610,7 +611,7 @@ function _core_site_status_table($project = '') {
     $status_table['php-conf'] = $php_ini_files;
   }
   $status_table['drush-script'] = DRUSH_COMMAND;
-  $status_table['drush-version'] = DRUSH_VERSION;
+  $status_table['drush-version'] = Drush::getVersion();
   $status_table['drush-temp'] = drush_find_tmp();
   $status_table['drush-conf'] = drush_flatten_array(drush_get_context_options('context-path', ''));
   $alias_files = _drush_sitealias_find_alias_files();
@@ -1280,7 +1281,7 @@ function drush_core_drupal_directory($target = 'root') {
  * Called for `drush version` or `drush --version`
  */
 function drush_core_version() {
-  return DRUSH_VERSION;
+  return Drush::getVersion();
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/includes/cache.inc b/includes/cache.inc
index 8f62193832..c6c1cbdedc 100644
--- a/includes/cache.inc
+++ b/includes/cache.inc
@@ -197,5 +197,5 @@ function drush_get_cid($prefix, $contexts = array(), $params = array()) {
     $cid[] = $param;
   }
 
-  return DRUSH_VERSION . '-' . $prefix . '-' . md5(implode("", $cid));
+  return Drush::getVersion() . '-' . $prefix . '-' . md5(implode("", $cid));
 }
diff --git a/includes/preflight.inc b/includes/preflight.inc
index f52894f9b4..7840f4d653 100644
--- a/includes/preflight.inc
+++ b/includes/preflight.inc
@@ -175,13 +175,20 @@ function drush_preflight_prepare() {
   drush_set_context('DRUSH_VENDOR_PATH', dirname($vendor_path));
   drush_set_context('DRUSH_CLASSLOADER', $classloader);
 
-  // Set up for backwards-compatibility. New code should call
-  // \Drush::getVersion() and \Drush::getMajorVersion() directly
-  $drush_version = \Drush::getVersion();
-  $version_parts = explode('.', $drush_version);
-  define('DRUSH_VERSION', $drush_version);
-  define('DRUSH_MAJOR_VERSION', $version_parts[0]);
-  define('DRUSH_MINOR_VERSION', $version_parts[1]);
+  /*
+   * @deprecated. Use \Drush::getVersion().
+   */
+  define('DRUSH_VERSION', \Drush::getVersion());
+
+  /*
+   * @deprecated. Use \Drush::getMajorVersion().
+   */
+  define('DRUSH_MAJOR_VERSION', Drush::getMajorVersion());
+
+  /*
+   * @deprecated. Use \Drush::getMinorVersion().
+   */
+  define('DRUSH_MINOR_VERSION', Drush::getMinorVersion());
 
   // We need to load our services right away, as we cannot log
   // or do much else until after this is done.
diff --git a/lib/Drush.php b/lib/Drush.php
index 67a5841414..d95d305dc4 100644
--- a/lib/Drush.php
+++ b/lib/Drush.php
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
  */
 
 use League\Container\ContainerInterface;
+use SebastianBergmann\Version;
 
 /**
  * Static Service Container wrapper.
@@ -60,7 +61,8 @@ class Drush {
   public static function getVersion() {
     if (!static::$version) {
       $drush_info = static::drush_read_drush_info();
-      static::$version = $drush_info['drush_version'];
+      $instance = new Version($drush_info['drush_version'], DRUSH_BASE_PATH);
+      static::$version = $instance->getversion();
     }
     return static::$version;
   }
diff --git a/lib/Drush/Boot/DrupalBoot.php b/lib/Drush/Boot/DrupalBoot.php
index c6aa728bfd..90b36af3f2 100644
--- a/lib/Drush/Boot/DrupalBoot.php
+++ b/lib/Drush/Boot/DrupalBoot.php
@@ -282,7 +282,7 @@ function bootstrap_drupal_root_validate() {
     $version = drush_drupal_version($drupal_root);
     $major_version = drush_drupal_major_version($drupal_root);
     if ($major_version <= 6) {
-      return drush_set_error('DRUSH_DRUPAL_VERSION_UNSUPPORTED', dt('Drush !drush_version does not support Drupal !major_version.', array('!drush_version' => DRUSH_VERSION, '!major_version' => $major_version)));
+      return drush_set_error('DRUSH_DRUPAL_VERSION_UNSUPPORTED', dt('Drush !drush_version does not support Drupal !major_version.', array('!drush_version' => \Drush::getMajorVersion(), '!major_version' => $major_version)));
     }
 
     drush_bootstrap_value('drupal_root', $drupal_root);