diff --git a/RtMidi.h b/RtMidi.h
index 2e51b96..c450bc1 100644
--- a/RtMidi.h
+++ b/RtMidi.h
@@ -58,7 +58,24 @@
   #endif
 #endif
 
-#define RTMIDI_VERSION "5.0.0"
+#define RTMIDI_VERSION_MAJOR 5
+#define RTMIDI_VERSION_MINOR 0
+#define RTMIDI_VERSION_PATCH 0
+#define RTMIDI_VERSION_BETA  0
+
+#define RTMIDI_TOSTRING2(n) #n
+#define RTMIDI_TOSTRING(n) RTMIDI_TOSTRING2(n)
+
+#if RTMIDI_VERSION_BETA > 0
+    #define RTMIDI_VERSION RTMIDI_TOSTRING(RTMIDI_VERSION_MAJOR) \
+                        "." RTMIDI_TOSTRING(RTMIDI_VERSION_MINOR) \
+                        "." RTMIDI_TOSTRING(RTMIDI_VERSION_PATCH) \
+                     "beta" RTMIDI_TOSTRING(RTMIDI_VERSION_BETA)
+#else
+    #define RTMIDI_VERSION RTMIDI_TOSTRING(RTMIDI_VERSION_MAJOR) \
+                        "." RTMIDI_TOSTRING(RTMIDI_VERSION_MINOR) \
+                        "." RTMIDI_TOSTRING(RTMIDI_VERSION_PATCH)
+#endif
 
 #include <exception>
 #include <iostream>
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 960af42..9ae2dd1 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -45,9 +45,15 @@ AS_IF([test "x$CFLAGS" = "x" ], [override_c=yes], [override_c=no])
 
 # Check version number coherency between RtMidi.h and configure.ac
 AC_MSG_CHECKING([that version numbers are coherent])
-RTMIDI_VERSION=`sed -n 's/#define RTMIDI_VERSION "\(.*\)"/\1/p' $srcdir/RtMidi.h`
+RTMIDI_VERSION_MAJOR=`sed -n 's/#define RTMIDI_VERSION_MAJOR *\([0-9]*\)/\1/p' $srcdir/RtMidi.h`
+RTMIDI_VERSION_MINOR=`sed -n 's/#define RTMIDI_VERSION_MINOR *\([0-9]*\)/\1/p' $srcdir/RtMidi.h`
+RTMIDI_VERSION_PATCH=`sed -n 's/#define RTMIDI_VERSION_PATCH *\([0-9]*\)/\1/p' $srcdir/RtMidi.h`
+RTMIDI_VERSION_BETA=`sed -n 's/#define RTMIDI_VERSION_BETA *\([0-9]*\)/\1/p' $srcdir/RtMidi.h`
 AS_IF(
-   [test "x$RTMIDI_VERSION" != "x$PACKAGE_VERSION"],
+   [test '('   "0$RTMIDI_VERSION_BETA" -le 0 \
+            -o "x$RTMIDI_VERSION_MAJOR.$RTMIDI_VERSION_MINOR.${RTMIDI_VERSION_PATCH}beta${RTMIDI_VERSION_BETA}" != "x$PACKAGE_VERSION" ')' \
+      -a '('   "0$RTMIDI_VERSION_BETA" -ne 0\
+            -o "x$RTMIDI_VERSION_MAJOR.$RTMIDI_VERSION_MINOR.${RTMIDI_VERSION_PATCH}" != "x$PACKAGE_VERSION" ')' ],
    [AC_MSG_FAILURE([testing RTMIDI_VERSION==PACKAGE_VERSION failed, check that RtMidi.h defines RTMIDI_VERSION as "$PACKAGE_VERSION" or that the first line of configure.ac has been updated.])])
 
 # Enable some nice automake features if they are available