diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index a7c9bebe..2283bb5f 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS = -I m4
 
 # This is the point release for libevent.  It shouldn't include any
 # a/b/c/d/e notations.
-RELEASE = 1.4
+RELEASE = 2.0
 
 # This is the version info for the libevent binary API.  It has three
 # numbers:
@@ -25,7 +25,15 @@ RELEASE = 1.4
 # compatibility with old binaries.  Increment Current.  Set Age to 0,
 # since we're backward compatible with no previous APIs.  Set Revision
 # to 0 too.
-VERSION_INFO = 2:0:0
+#
+#   Version history:
+#    1.4:
+#      2 -- Libevent ??? ..Libevent 1.4.10
+#      [Gap left for possible intermediate versions]
+#
+#    2.0
+#      1 -- Libevent 2.0.1-alpha.
+VERSION_INFO = 1:0:0
 
 bin_SCRIPTS = event_rpcgen.py
 
diff --git a/configure.in b/configure.in
index f8c6c74c..4327bc50 100644
--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -4,8 +4,9 @@ AC_INIT(event.c)
 
 AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR([m4])
 
-AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE(libevent,1.4.99-trunk)
+AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE(libevent,2.0.1-alpha)
 AM_CONFIG_HEADER(config.h)
+AC_DEFINE(NUMERIC_VERSION, 0x02000100, [Numeric representation of the version])
 
 dnl Initialize prefix.
 if test "$prefix" = "NONE"; then
diff --git a/event.c b/event.c
index d9dc1b2e..9e55b86b 100644
--- a/event.c
+++ b/event.c
@@ -1551,6 +1551,12 @@ event_get_version(void)
 	return (_EVENT_VERSION);
 }
 
+ev_uint32_t
+event_get_version_number(void)
+{
+	return (_EVENT_NUMERIC_VERSION);
+}
+
 /*
  * No thread-safe interface needed - the information should be the same
  * for all threads.
diff --git a/include/event2/event.h b/include/event2/event.h
index 7f9d8094..903659ad 100644
--- a/include/event2/event.h
+++ b/include/event2/event.h
@@ -543,12 +543,34 @@ evutil_socket_t event_get_fd(struct event *ev);
 #endif
 
 /**
-  Get the libevent version number.
+   Get the libevent version.
 
-  @return a string containing the version number of libevent
- */
+   Note that this will give you the version of the library that you're
+   currently linked against, not the version of the headers that you've
+   compiled against.
+
+   @return a string containing the version number of Libevent
+*/
 const char *event_get_version(void);
 
+/**
+   Return a numeric representation of Libevent's version.
+
+   Note that this will give you the version of the library that you're
+   currently linked against, not the version of the headers you've used to
+   compile.
+
+   The format uses one byte each for the major, minor, and patchlevel parts of
+   the version number.  The low-order byte is unused.  For example, version
+   2.0.1-alpha has a numeric representation of 0x02000100
+*/
+ev_uint32_t event_get_version_number(void);
+
+/** As event_get_version, but gives the version of Libevent's headers. */
+#define LIBEVENT_VERSION _EVENT_VERSION
+/** As event_get_version_number, but gives the version number of Libevent's
+ * headers. */
+#define LIBEVENT_VERSION_NUMBER _EVENT_NUMERIC_VERSION
 
 /**
   Set the number of different event priorities (threadsafe variant).