diff --git a/autogen.sh b/autogen.sh
index aed3b0ef..90f9c8f2 100755
--- a/autogen.sh
+++ b/autogen.sh
@@ -103,6 +103,10 @@ aclocal $aclocalinclude
 if grep "^AM_CONFIG_HEADER" configure.in >/dev/null; then
   echo "Running autoheader..."
   autoheader
+
+  # we don't want VERSION in our config.h
+  grep -v '^#undef VERSION' config.h.in > config.h.in.temp
+  mv -f config.h.in.temp config.h.in
 fi
 echo "Running autoconf ..."
 autoconf