diff --git a/makefile b/makefile
index 09c834d..bdf638e 100644
--- a/makefile
+++ b/makefile
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 # Build a release of tconfpy using 'make'
-# $Id: makefile,v 1.103 2005/01/15 09:44:55 tundra Exp $
+# $Id: makefile,v 1.104 2005/01/16 09:41:04 tundra Exp $
 # Requires a modern 'make' like GNU.
 
 
 PROGNAME=tconfpy
 TESTPROG=test-tc
 
-VERSION   = `rlog -v ${PROGNAME}.py | python -c"import sys;x=sys.stdin.readlines();print x[0].split()[-1]"`
+VERSION   = $(shell rlog -v ${PROGNAME}.py | python -c"import sys;x=sys.stdin.readlines();print x[0].split()[-1]")
 
 PREFIX    = py-${PROGNAME}
 DIR       = ${PREFIX}-${VERSION}
@@ -62,6 +62,9 @@
 clean:
 	@rm -rf  ${DOCFILES} ${PROGFILES} ${SUPPFILES} ${DIR} ${PREFIX}*
 
+version:
+	@echo ${VERSION}
+
 CHANGELOG.txt:
 	@rlog ${PROGNAME}.py >CHANGELOG.txt