diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 26f2783..d74e9da 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -74,7 +74,6 @@ INSTALL
 /config.status
 /config.sub
 /configure
-/configure.ac
 /depcomp
 /config.h
 /config.h.in
diff --git a/configure.ac.tpl b/configure.ac
similarity index 98%
rename from configure.ac.tpl
rename to configure.ac
index 87a571d..ccaaa63 100644
--- a/configure.ac.tpl
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-AC_INIT([libressl], [VERSION])
++AC_INIT([libressl], m4_esyscmd([tr -d '\n' < VERSION]))
 AC_CANONICAL_HOST
 AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([subdir-objects])
 AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR([m4])
diff --git a/update.sh b/update.sh
index 62fb99f..62e88af 100755
--- a/update.sh
+++ b/update.sh
@@ -32,8 +32,6 @@ source $libcrypto_src/crypto/shlib_version
 libcrypto_version=$major:$minor:0
 echo libcrypto version $libcrypto_version
 
-sed -e "s/VERSION/${libressl_version}/" configure.ac.tpl > configure.ac
-
 CP='cp -p'
 
 copy_src() {