diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 27adfc1ea9..94a352c07b 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+2002-09-01  Derek Atkins  <derek@ihtfp.com>
+	* configure.in: remove GNUCASH_BUILD_DATE
+	* src/gnome/Makefile.am: build gnc-version.h, and #define a string
+	  defining the time when gnucash was built (GNUCASH_BUILD_DATE)
+	* src/gnome/gnc-splash.h: include the new gnc-version.h header
+
 2002-09-01  David Hampton  <hampton@employees.org>
 
 	* src/gnome-utils/gnc-menu-extensions.[ch]:
diff --git a/configure.in b/configure.in
index 06ff1c7d54..1d05a2d141 100644
--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -34,12 +34,10 @@ GNUCASH_MAJOR_VERSION=1
 GNUCASH_MINOR_VERSION=7
 GNUCASH_MICRO_VERSION=0
 GNUCASH_VERSION=$GNUCASH_MAJOR_VERSION.$GNUCASH_MINOR_VERSION.$GNUCASH_MICRO_VERSION
-GNUCASH_BUILD_DATE=`date +%Y-%m-%d`
 
 AC_SUBST(GNUCASH_MAJOR_VERSION)
 AC_SUBST(GNUCASH_MINOR_VERSION)
 AC_SUBST(GNUCASH_MICRO_VERSION)
-AC_SUBST(GNUCASH_BUILD_DATE)
 
 AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE(gnucash,$GNUCASH_VERSION)
 
@@ -50,7 +48,6 @@ AM_CONFIG_HEADER(config.h)
 AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED(GNUCASH_MAJOR_VERSION, $GNUCASH_MAJOR_VERSION)
 AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED(GNUCASH_MINOR_VERSION, $GNUCASH_MINOR_VERSION)
 AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED(GNUCASH_MICRO_VERSION, $GNUCASH_MICRO_VERSION)
-AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED(GNUCASH_BUILD_DATE, "$GNUCASH_BUILD_DATE", When configure was last run)
 
 dnl Set of available languages.
 ALL_LINGUAS="da de en_GB es es_NI fr hu it ja no pt pt_BR ru sv"
diff --git a/src/gnome/Makefile.am b/src/gnome/Makefile.am
index e6f39f3c82..5e3d210c0c 100644
--- a/src/gnome/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/gnome/Makefile.am
@@ -150,6 +150,20 @@ gnucash.keys: gnucash.keys.in
 
 noinst_DATA = .scm-links
 
+gnc-version.h: _gnc-version.h
+	-[ ! -f gnc-version.h ] && cp _gnc-version.h gnc-version.h
+	-cmp -s _gnc-version.h gnc-version.h || cp _gnc-version.h gnc-version.h
+	-rm -f _gnc-version.h
+
+_gnc-version.h:
+	@echo "/* Autogenerated. Do not change. */"	 > _gnc-version.h
+	@echo "#ifndef GNC_VERSION_H"			>> _gnc-version.h
+	@echo "#define GNC_VERSION_H"			>> _gnc-version.h
+	@echo ""					>> _gnc_version.h
+	@echo "#define GNUCASH_BUILD_DATE \"`date +%Y-%m-%d`\"" >> _gnc-version.h
+	@echo ""					>> _gnc-version.h
+	@echo "#endif"					>> _gnc-version.h
+
 if GNUCASH_SEPARATE_BUILDDIR
 #For compiling
 SCM_FILE_LINKS = gw-gnc-spec.scm
@@ -177,5 +191,5 @@ gw-gnc.scm gw-gnc.h gw-gnc.c gw-gnc.html: gw-gnc-spec.scm .scm-links
            (set! %load-path (cons \"../report/report-gnome\" %load-path)) \
            (primitive-load \"./gw-gnc-spec.scm\") \
            (gw:generate-wrapset \"gw-gnc\")"
-BUILT_SOURCES = gw-gnc.scm gw-gnc.h gw-gnc.c
+BUILT_SOURCES = gw-gnc.scm gw-gnc.h gw-gnc.c gnc-version.h
 CLEANFILES = ${BUILT_SOURCES} gw-gnc.html gnucash.keys gnucash.desktop
diff --git a/src/gnome/gnc-splash.c b/src/gnome/gnc-splash.c
index 8b81be4fef..2c2681ad14 100644
--- a/src/gnome/gnc-splash.c
+++ b/src/gnome/gnc-splash.c
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
 
 #include "dialog-utils.h"
 #include "gnc-splash.h"
+#include "gnc-version.h"
 
 
 static GtkWidget * splash = NULL;