diff --git a/lambdabot-core.cabal b/lambdabot-core.cabal
--- a/lambdabot-core.cabal
+++ b/lambdabot-core.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 name:                   lambdabot-core
-version:                5.0.1
+version:                5.0.3
 
 license:                GPL
 license-file:           LICENSE
diff --git a/src/Lambdabot/Config/Core.hs b/src/Lambdabot/Config/Core.hs
--- a/src/Lambdabot/Config/Core.hs
+++ b/src/Lambdabot/Config/Core.hs
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
     , onStartupCmds
     , outputDir
     , dataDir
+    , lbVersion
     , uncaughtExceptionHandler
     
     , replaceRootLogger
@@ -24,6 +25,7 @@
 
 import Control.Exception
 import System.IO
+import Data.Version
 
 -------------------------------------
 -- Core configuration variables
@@ -34,8 +36,10 @@
 config "enableInsults"      [t| Bool                    |] [| True          |]
 configWithMerge [| (++) |] "onStartupCmds" [t| [String] |] [| ["offline"]   |]
 config "outputDir"          [t| FilePath                |] [| "State/"      |]
--- The dataDir variable will be filled by lambdabot's executable
+-- the dataDir variable will be filled by lambdabot's executable
 config "dataDir"            [t| FilePath                |] [| "."           |]
+-- ditto for lbVersion
+config "lbVersion"          [t| Version                 |] [| Version [] [] |]
 
 -- basic logging.  for more complex setups, configure directly using System.Log.Logger
 config "replaceRootLogger"  [t| Bool                    |] [| True                        |]
diff --git a/src/Lambdabot/Plugin/Core/Version.hs b/src/Lambdabot/Plugin/Core/Version.hs
--- a/src/Lambdabot/Plugin/Core/Version.hs
+++ b/src/Lambdabot/Plugin/Core/Version.hs
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@
 module Lambdabot.Plugin.Core.Version (versionPlugin) where
 
 import Lambdabot.Plugin
-import Paths_lambdabot_core (version)
 import Data.Version (showVersion)
 
 versionPlugin :: Module ()
@@ -16,7 +15,8 @@
                 "version/source. Report the version " ++
                 "and git repo of this bot"
             , process = const $ do
-                say $ "lambdabot " ++ showVersion version
+                ver <- getConfig lbVersion
+                say $ "lambdabot " ++ showVersion ver
                 say "git clone https://github.com/lambdabot/lambdabot"
             }
         ]