--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-AC_INIT([patchelf], m4_esyscmd([echo -n $(cat ./version)]))
+AC_INIT([patchelf], m4_esyscmd([printf $(cat ./version)]))
 AC_CONFIG_SRCDIR([src/patchelf.cc])
 AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR([build-aux])
 AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([-Wall -Werror dist-bzip2 foreign color-tests parallel-tests])
