diff --git a/src/Makefile.am b/src/Makefile.am
index b30f0e3..2c636f9 100644
--- a/src/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/Makefile.am
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ src_libp4est_la_SOURCES = \
 src_libp4est_la_CPPFLAGS = $(AM_CPPFLAGS) $(P4EST_CPPFLAGS)
 ## This is the official API versioning scheme of libtool.  Please see:
 ## Read https://www.gnu.org/software/libtool/manual/libtool.html#Versioning
-src_libp4est_la_LDFLAGS = -version-info 1:0:0
+src_libp4est_la_LDFLAGS = -release $(VERSION)
 src_libp4est_la_LIBADD = @P4EST_SC_LDADD@
 LDADD += src/libp4est.la @P4EST_SC_LDADD@
 EXTRA_src_libp4est_la_DEPENDENCIES = @P4EST_SC_LDADD@
