diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 94385717..2824aad6 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -622,6 +622,7 @@ ac_includes_default="\
 ac_header_list=
 ac_subst_vars='LTLIBOBJS
 LIBOBJS
+RELEASE_DATE
 PERLARTIFACTS
 VERSION
 EGREP
@@ -3994,6 +3995,7 @@ else
     PERLARTIFACTS='NO_PACKLIST=1 NO_PERLLOCAL=1'
 fi
 
+RELEASE_DATE=`grep '0-90-90-90-9-0-90-9-0-90-9' docs/WHATSNEW  | head -n 1 | awk '{print $NF}'`
 for ac_func in setenv unsetenv glob mbstowcs setlocale initgroups
 do :
   as_ac_var=`$as_echo "ac_cv_func_$ac_func" | $as_tr_sh`
@@ -4010,6 +4012,7 @@ VERSION=04.00.03
 
 
 
+
 ac_config_files="$ac_config_files src/Makefile www/Makefile src/version.h rem2html/Makefile rem2pdf/Makefile.PL rem2pdf/Makefile.top rem2pdf/bin/rem2pdf"
 
 cat >confcache <<\_ACEOF
diff --git a/configure.in b/configure.in
index ac8f2b65..cdc60b10 100644
--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -64,10 +64,12 @@ else
     PERLARTIFACTS='NO_PACKLIST=1 NO_PERLLOCAL=1'
 fi
 
+RELEASE_DATE=`grep '[0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9]-[0-9][0-9]-[0-9][0-9]' docs/WHATSNEW  | head -n 1 | awk '{print $NF}'`
 AC_CHECK_FUNCS(setenv unsetenv glob mbstowcs setlocale initgroups)
 VERSION=04.00.03
 AC_SUBST(VERSION)
 AC_SUBST(PERL)
 AC_SUBST(PERLARTIFACTS)
+AC_SUBST(RELEASE_DATE)
 AC_OUTPUT(src/Makefile www/Makefile src/version.h rem2html/Makefile rem2pdf/Makefile.PL rem2pdf/Makefile.top rem2pdf/bin/rem2pdf)
 chmod a+x rem2pdf/bin/rem2pdf