diff --git a/ares/Makefile.am b/ares/Makefile.am
index d60c9271c..10ed5c8d6 100644
--- a/ares/Makefile.am
+++ b/ares/Makefile.am
@@ -55,3 +55,12 @@ libcares_la_SOURCES = $(CSOURCES) $(HHEADERS)
 libcares_ladir = $(includedir)
 # what headers to install on 'make install':
 libcares_la_HEADERS = ares.h ares_version.h
+
+# Make files named *.dist replace the file without .dist extension
+dist-hook:
+	find $(distdir) -name "*.dist" -exec rm {} \;
+	(distit=`find $(srcdir) -name "*.dist"`; \
+	for file in $$distit; do \
+	  strip=`echo $$file | sed -e s/^$(srcdir)// -e s/\.dist//`; \
+	  cp $$file $(distdir)$$strip; \
+	done)
diff --git a/ares/maketgz b/ares/maketgz
index 224079ae1..6abe3f1c3 100755
--- a/ares/maketgz
+++ b/ares/maketgz
@@ -12,6 +12,27 @@ if(!-f "ares.h") {
     exit;
 }
 
+my ($major, $minor, $patch)=split(/\./, $version);
+
+$major += 0;
+$minor += 0;
+$patch += 0;
+
+open(VER, "<ares_version.h") ||
+    die "can't open ares_version.h";
+open(NEWV, ">ares_version.h.dist");
+while(<VER>) {
+    $_ =~ s/^\#define ARES_VERSION_MAJOR .*/\#define ARES_VERSION_MAJOR $major/;
+    $_ =~ s/^\#define ARES_VERSION_MINOR .*/\#define ARES_VERSION_MINOR $minor/;
+    $_ =~ s/^\#define ARES_VERSION_PATCH .*/\#define ARES_VERSION_PATCH $patch/;
+    $_ =~ s/^\#define ARES_VERSION_STR .*/\#define ARES_VERSION_STR \"$version\"/;
+
+    print NEWV $_;
+}
+close(VER);
+close(NEWV);
+print "ares_version.h.dist created\n";
+
 if(!-f "configure") {
     print "running buildconf\n";
     `./buildconf`;