diff --git a/include/osgWidget/Version b/include/osgWidget/Version
index 7310bbdc5..a41c81f1c 100644
--- a/include/osgWidget/Version
+++ b/include/osgWidget/Version
@@ -8,15 +8,28 @@
 
 extern "C" {
 
-OSGWIDGET_EXPORT unsigned int osgWidgetGetMajorVersion ();
-OSGWIDGET_EXPORT unsigned int osgWidgetGetMinorVersion ();
-OSGWIDGET_EXPORT unsigned int osgWidgetGetPatchVersion ();
-OSGWIDGET_EXPORT const char*  osgWidgetGetExtraText    ();
-OSGWIDGET_EXPORT const char*  osgWidgetGetVersion      ();
-OSGWIDGET_EXPORT const char*  osgWidgetGetLibraryName  ();
-OSGWIDGET_EXPORT bool         osgWidgetVersionMinimum  (unsigned int, unsigned int, unsigned int);
-OSGWIDGET_EXPORT bool         osgWidgetVersionMaximum  (unsigned int, unsigned int, unsigned int);
-OSGWIDGET_EXPORT bool         osgWidgetVersionRequired (unsigned int, unsigned int, unsigned int);
+/**
+ * osgWidgetGetVersion() returns the library version number.
+ * Numbering convention : OpenSceneGraph-1.0 will return 1.0 from osgWidgetGetVersion.
+ *
+ * This C function can be also used to check for the existence of the OpenSceneGraph
+ * library using autoconf and its m4 macro AC_CHECK_LIB.
+ *
+ * Here is the code to add to your configure.in:
+ \verbatim
+ #
+ # Check for the OpenSceneGraph (OSG) Util library
+ #
+ AC_CHECK_LIB(osg, osgWidgetGetVersion, ,
+    [AC_MSG_ERROR(OpenSceneGraph Util library not found. See http://www.openscenegraph.org)],)
+ \endverbatim
+*/
+extern OSGWIDGET_EXPORT const char* osgWidgetGetVersion();
+
+/**
+ * osgWidgetGetLibraryName() returns the library name in human friendly form.
+ */
+extern OSGWIDGET_EXPORT const char* osgWidgetGetLibraryName();
 
 }
 
diff --git a/src/osgWidget/Version.cpp b/src/osgWidget/Version.cpp
index 415df95b7..865d30d7b 100644
--- a/src/osgWidget/Version.cpp
+++ b/src/osgWidget/Version.cpp
@@ -1,83 +1,19 @@
 // -*-c++-*- osgWidget - Code by: Jeremy Moles (cubicool) 2007-2008
 // $Id: Version.cpp 64 2008-06-30 21:32:00Z cubicool $
 
-#include <sstream>
 #include <osgWidget/Version>
+#include <osg/Version>
 
 extern "C" {
 
-const unsigned int OSGWIDGET_MAJOR_VERSION = 0;
-const unsigned int OSGWIDGET_MINOR_VERSION = 1;
-const unsigned int OSGWIDGET_PATCH_VERSION = 8;
-const char*        OSGWIDGET_EXTRA_TEXT    = "(pre-merge)";
-
-unsigned int osgWidgetGetMajorVersion() {
-	return OSGWIDGET_MAJOR_VERSION;
+const char* osgWidgetGetVersion()
+{
+    return osgGetVersion();
 }
 
-unsigned int osgWidgetGetMinorVersion() {
-	return OSGWIDGET_MINOR_VERSION;
-}
-
-unsigned int osgWidgetGetPatchVersion() {
-	return OSGWIDGET_PATCH_VERSION;
-}
-
-const char* osgWidgetGetExtraText() {
-	return OSGWIDGET_EXTRA_TEXT;
-}
-
-const char* osgWidgetGetVersion() {
-	static std::string version;
-	static bool versionInit = true;
-
-	if(versionInit) {
-		std::stringstream stream;
-		
-		stream.str(std::string());
-
-		stream
-			<< OSGWIDGET_MAJOR_VERSION << "."
-			<< OSGWIDGET_MINOR_VERSION << "."
-			<< OSGWIDGET_PATCH_VERSION << " "
-			<< OSGWIDGET_EXTRA_TEXT
-		;
-
-		version     = stream.str();
-		versionInit = false;
-	}
-
-	return version.c_str();
-}
-
-const char* osgWidgetGetLibraryName() {
-	static std::string name("OpenSceneGraph Widget Library");
-
-	return name.c_str();
-}
-
-bool osgWidgetVersionMinimum(unsigned int major, unsigned int minor, unsigned int patch) {
-	return
-		OSGWIDGET_MAJOR_VERSION >= major &&
-		OSGWIDGET_MINOR_VERSION >= minor &&
-		OSGWIDGET_PATCH_VERSION >= patch
-	;
-}
-
-bool osgWidgetVersionMaximum(unsigned int major, unsigned int minor, unsigned int patch) {
-	return 
-		// OSGWIDGET_MAJOR_VERSION <= major &&
-		OSGWIDGET_MINOR_VERSION <= minor &&
-		OSGWIDGET_PATCH_VERSION <= patch
-	;
-}
-
-bool osgWidgetVersionRequired(unsigned int major, unsigned int minor, unsigned int patch) {
-	return 
-		OSGWIDGET_MAJOR_VERSION == major &&
-		OSGWIDGET_MINOR_VERSION == minor &&
-		OSGWIDGET_PATCH_VERSION == patch
-	;
+const char* osgWidgetGetLibraryName()
+{
+	return "OpenSceneGraph Widget Library";
 }
 
 }