diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 450622edb..934c85bdf 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -947,7 +947,7 @@ OBJS = src/proto_http.o src/cfgparse-listen.o src/proto_htx.o src/stream.o    \
        src/http.o src/hpack-dec.o src/action.o src/proto_udp.o src/http_acl.o \
        src/xxhash.o src/hpack-enc.o src/h2.o src/freq_ctr.o src/lru.o         \
        src/protocol.o src/arg.o src/hpack-huff.o src/hdr_idx.o src/base64.o   \
-       src/hash.o src/mailers.o src/activity.o src/http_msg.o
+       src/hash.o src/mailers.o src/activity.o src/http_msg.o src/version.o
 
 EBTREE_OBJS = $(EBTREE_DIR)/ebtree.o $(EBTREE_DIR)/eb32sctree.o \
               $(EBTREE_DIR)/eb32tree.o $(EBTREE_DIR)/eb64tree.o \
@@ -984,6 +984,9 @@ objsize: haproxy
 %.o:	%.c $(DEP)
 	$(cmd_CC) $(COPTS) -c -o $@ $<
 
+# rebuild it every time
+.PHONY: src/version.c
+
 src/trace.o: src/trace.c $(DEP)
 	$(cmd_CC) $(TRACE_COPTS) -c -o $@ $<
 
diff --git a/include/common/version.h b/include/common/version.h
index 61f95a30d..305087db1 100644
--- a/include/common/version.h
+++ b/include/common/version.h
@@ -66,5 +66,9 @@
 #error "Must define CONFIG_HAPROXY_DATE"
 #endif
 
+extern const char *haproxy_version;
+extern const char *haproxy_date;
+extern const char *stats_version_string;
+
 #endif /* _COMMON_VERSION_H */
 
diff --git a/src/haproxy.c b/src/haproxy.c
index 0b99a1325..d47dff3e3 100644
--- a/src/haproxy.c
+++ b/src/haproxy.c
@@ -370,7 +370,7 @@ void hap_register_per_thread_deinit(void (*fct)())
 
 static void display_version()
 {
-	printf("HA-Proxy version " HAPROXY_VERSION " " HAPROXY_DATE" - https://haproxy.org/\n");
+	printf("HA-Proxy version %s %s - https://haproxy.org/\n", haproxy_version, haproxy_date);
 }
 
 static void display_build_opts()
diff --git a/src/stats.c b/src/stats.c
index bb6fa47f0..5e54dd5b2 100644
--- a/src/stats.c
+++ b/src/stats.c
@@ -2386,7 +2386,7 @@ static void stats_dump_html_info(struct stream_interface *si, struct uri_auth *u
 	              "<td align=\"left\" valign=\"top\" nowrap width=\"1%%\">"
 	              "<b>Display option:</b><ul style=\"margin-top: 0.25em;\">"
 	              "",
-	              (uri->flags & ST_HIDEVER) ? "" : (STATS_VERSION_STRING),
+	              (uri->flags & ST_HIDEVER) ? "" : (stats_version_string),
 	              pid, (uri->flags & ST_SHNODE) ? " on " : "",
 		      (uri->flags & ST_SHNODE) ? (uri->node ? uri->node : global.node) : "",
 	              (uri->flags & ST_SHDESC) ? ": " : "",
@@ -3558,8 +3558,8 @@ int stats_fill_info(struct field *info, int len)
 	memset(info, 0, sizeof(*info) * len);
 
 	info[INF_NAME]                           = mkf_str(FO_PRODUCT|FN_OUTPUT|FS_SERVICE, PRODUCT_NAME);
-	info[INF_VERSION]                        = mkf_str(FO_PRODUCT|FN_OUTPUT|FS_SERVICE, HAPROXY_VERSION);
-	info[INF_RELEASE_DATE]                   = mkf_str(FO_PRODUCT|FN_OUTPUT|FS_SERVICE, HAPROXY_DATE);
+	info[INF_VERSION]                        = mkf_str(FO_PRODUCT|FN_OUTPUT|FS_SERVICE, haproxy_version);
+	info[INF_RELEASE_DATE]                   = mkf_str(FO_PRODUCT|FN_OUTPUT|FS_SERVICE, haproxy_date);
 
 	info[INF_NBTHREAD]                       = mkf_u32(FO_CONFIG|FS_SERVICE, global.nbthread);
 	info[INF_NBPROC]                         = mkf_u32(FO_CONFIG|FS_SERVICE, global.nbproc);
diff --git a/src/version.c b/src/version.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f50f24bea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/version.c
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+/*
+ * Version reporting : all user-visible version information should come from
+ * this file so that rebuilding only this one is enough to report the latest
+ * code version.
+ */
+
+#include <common/version.h>
+
+const char *haproxy_version      = HAPROXY_VERSION;
+const char *haproxy_date         = HAPROXY_DATE;
+const char *stats_version_string = STATS_VERSION_STRING;