diff --git a/README.markdown b/README.markdown
index e370ff91..bd532f21 100644
--- a/README.markdown
+++ b/README.markdown
@@ -61,11 +61,11 @@ as `crypto_sign_edwards25519sha512batch*`.
 ## Additional features
 
 The Sodium library provides some convenience functions in order to retrieve
-the current version of the library:
+the current version of the package and of the shared library:
 
     const char *sodium_version_string(void);
-    const int   sodium_version_major(void);
-    const int   sodium_version_minor(void);
+    const int   sodium_library_version_major(void);
+    const int   sodium_library_version_minor(void);
 
 Headers are installed in `${prefix}/include/sodium`.
 
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index c1770e8a..d1d47f8d 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -13,7 +13,10 @@ AC_SUBST(VERSION)
 ISODATE=`date +%Y-%m-%d`
 AC_SUBST(ISODATE)
 
-SODIUM_LIBRARY_VERSION=3:1:0
+SODIUM_LIBRARY_VERSION_MAJOR=4
+SODIUM_LIBRARY_VERSION_MINOR=0
+
+SODIUM_LIBRARY_VERSION=4:0:0
 #                      | | |
 #               +------+ | +---+
 #               |        |     |
@@ -25,6 +28,8 @@ SODIUM_LIBRARY_VERSION=3:1:0
 #               |        +- increment if source code has changed
 #               |           set to zero if current is incremented
 #               +- increment if interfaces have been added, removed or changed
+AC_SUBST(SODIUM_LIBRARY_VERSION_MAJOR)
+AC_SUBST(SODIUM_LIBRARY_VERSION_MINOR)
 AC_SUBST(SODIUM_LIBRARY_VERSION)
 
 LX_CFLAGS=${CFLAGS-NONE}
diff --git a/src/libsodium/include/sodium/version.h.in b/src/libsodium/include/sodium/version.h.in
index ba8c73cb..b965fad9 100644
--- a/src/libsodium/include/sodium/version.h.in
+++ b/src/libsodium/include/sodium/version.h.in
@@ -4,16 +4,16 @@
 
 #define SODIUM_VERSION_STRING "@VERSION@"
 
-#define SODIUM_VERSION_MAJOR 0
-#define SODIUM_VERSION_MINOR 4
+#define SODIUM_LIBRARY_VERSION_MAJOR @SODIUM_LIBRARY_VERSION_MAJOR@
+#define SODIUM_LIBRARY_VERSION_MINOR @SODIUM_LIBRARY_VERSION_MINOR@
 
 #ifdef __cplusplus
 extern "C" {
 #endif
 
 const char *sodium_version_string(void);
-int         sodium_version_major(void);
-int         sodium_version_minor(void);
+int         sodium_library_version_major(void);
+int         sodium_library_version_minor(void);
 
 #ifdef __cplusplus
 }
diff --git a/src/libsodium/version.c b/src/libsodium/version.c
index b0a2453d..324d8a3e 100644
--- a/src/libsodium/version.c
+++ b/src/libsodium/version.c
@@ -10,11 +10,11 @@ sodium_version_string(void)
 int
 sodium_version_major(void)
 {
-    return SODIUM_VERSION_MAJOR;
+    return SODIUM_LIBRARY_VERSION_MAJOR;
 }
 
 int
 sodium_version_minor(void)
 {
-    return SODIUM_VERSION_MINOR;
+    return SODIUM_LIBRARY_VERSION_MINOR;
 }