Index: configure
===================================================================
--- configure	(revision 4b1afb612226e0433d5fc67b4d46e47789cfa3df)
+++ configure	(revision 2042d4115ef77af560b537206b13199ecdb5eaa6)
@@ -2964,9 +2964,9 @@
 			# may require auto* software to be installed
 
-echo ${PACKAGE_VERSION} > version
-ver_major=`echo ${PACKAGE_VERSION} | sed -r 's/([0-9]+)\.([0-9]+)\.([0-9]+)\.([0-9]+)/\1/'`
-ver_minor=`echo ${PACKAGE_VERSION} | sed -r 's/([0-9]+)\.([0-9]+)\.([0-9]+)\.([0-9]+)/\2/'`
-ver_patch=`echo ${PACKAGE_VERSION} | sed -r 's/([0-9]+)\.([0-9]+)\.([0-9]+)\.([0-9]+)/\3/'`
-ver_build=`echo ${PACKAGE_VERSION} | sed -r 's/([0-9]+)\.([0-9]+)\.([0-9]+)\.([0-9]+)/\4/'`
+echo ${PACKAGE_VERSION} > version		# file containing version number for other tools
+ver_major=`cut -d '.' -f1 version`		# subdivide version number into components at periods
+ver_minor=`cut -d '.' -f2 version`
+ver_patch=`cut -d '.' -f3 version`
+ver_build=`cut -d '.' -f4 version`
 
 # AC_SUBST([CONFIG_STATUS_DEPENDENCIES], ['$(top_srcdir)/version'])