diff --git a/SConstruct b/SConstruct
index 5b10da417..71f04991d 100644
--- a/SConstruct
+++ b/SConstruct
@@ -768,7 +768,7 @@ def GetMapnikLibVersion(context):
 
 int main() 
 {
-    std::cout << MAPNIK_VERSION << std::endl;
+    std::cout << MAPNIK_VERSION_STRING << std::endl;
     return 0;
 }
 
@@ -778,11 +778,7 @@ int main()
     context.Result(ret[0])
     if not ret[1]:
         return []
-    version = int(ret[1].strip())    
-    patch_level = version % 100
-    minor_version = version / 100 % 1000
-    major_version = version / 100000
-    return [major_version,minor_version,patch_level]
+    return ret[1].strip()
 
 def icu_at_least_four_two(context):
     ret = context.TryRun("""
@@ -1382,14 +1378,13 @@ if not preconfigured:
         # fetch the mapnik version header in order to set the
         # ABI version used to build libmapnik.so on linux in src/build.py
         abi = conf.GetMapnikLibVersion()
-        abi_fallback = [2,0,0]
+        abi_fallback = "2.0.1-pre"
         if not abi:
             color_print(1,'Problem encountered parsing mapnik version, falling back to %s' % abi_fallback)
-            env['ABI_VERSION'] = abi_fallback
-        else:
-            env['ABI_VERSION'] = abi
-        env['MAPNIK_VERSION_STRING'] = '.'.join(['%d' % i for i in env['ABI_VERSION']])
+            abi = abi_fallback
 
+        env['ABI_VERSION'] = abi.replace('-pre','').split('.')
+        env['MAPNIK_VERSION_STRING'] = abi
 
         # Common C++ flags.
         if env['THREADING'] == 'multi':
diff --git a/bindings/python/mapnik/__init__.py b/bindings/python/mapnik/__init__.py
index 11129f80a..8cf54f1d9 100644
--- a/bindings/python/mapnik/__init__.py
+++ b/bindings/python/mapnik/__init__.py
@@ -572,13 +572,6 @@ def Geos(**keywords):
     keywords['type'] = 'geos'
     return CreateDatasource(keywords)
 
-def mapnik_version_string(version=mapnik_version()):
-    """Return the Mapnik version as a string."""
-    patch_level = version % 100
-    minor_version = version / 100 % 1000
-    major_version = version / 100000
-    return '%s.%s.%s' % ( major_version, minor_version,patch_level)
-
 def mapnik_version_from_string(version_string):
     """Return the Mapnik version from a string."""
     n = version_string.split('.')
diff --git a/bindings/python/mapnik_python.cpp b/bindings/python/mapnik_python.cpp
index e0591977a..4a4f5c4c9 100644
--- a/bindings/python/mapnik_python.cpp
+++ b/bindings/python/mapnik_python.cpp
@@ -279,6 +279,11 @@ unsigned mapnik_version()
     return MAPNIK_VERSION;
 }
 
+std::string mapnik_version_string()
+{
+    return MAPNIK_VERSION_STRING;
+}
+
 // indicator for jpeg read/write support within libmapnik
 bool has_jpeg()
 {
@@ -573,6 +578,7 @@ BOOST_PYTHON_MODULE(_mapnik)
 
     def("save_map_to_string", &save_map_to_string, save_map_to_string_overloads());
     def("mapnik_version", &mapnik_version,"Get the Mapnik version number");
+    def("mapnik_version_string", &mapnik_version_string,"Get the Mapnik version string");
     def("has_jpeg", &has_jpeg, "Get jpeg read/write support status");
     def("has_cairo", &has_cairo, "Get cairo library status");
     def("has_pycairo", &has_pycairo, "Get pycairo module status");
diff --git a/include/mapnik/version.hpp b/include/mapnik/version.hpp
index b79c0f666..b5a96d8ea 100644
--- a/include/mapnik/version.hpp
+++ b/include/mapnik/version.hpp
@@ -23,6 +23,28 @@
 #ifndef MAPNIK_VERSION_HPP
 #define MAPNIK_VERSION_HPP
 
-#define MAPNIK_VERSION 200000
+#define MAPNIK_VERSION_IS_RELEASE 0
+
+#define MAPNIK_MAJOR_VERSION 2
+#define MAPNIK_MINOR_VERSION 1
+#define MAPNIK_PATCH_VERSION 0
+
+#define MAPNIK_VERSION (MAPNIK_MAJOR_VERSION*100000) + (MAPNIK_MINOR_VERSION*100) + (MAPNIK_PATCH_VERSION)
+
+#ifndef MAPNIK_STRINGIFY
+#define MAPNIK_STRINGIFY(n) MAPNIK_STRINGIFY_HELPER(n)
+#define MAPNIK_STRINGIFY_HELPER(n) #n
+#endif
+
+#if MAPNIK_VERSION_IS_RELEASE
+# define MAPNIK_VERSION_STRING  MAPNIK_STRINGIFY(MAPNIK_MAJOR_VERSION) "." \
+                                MAPNIK_STRINGIFY(MAPNIK_MINOR_VERSION) "." \
+                                MAPNIK_STRINGIFY(MAPNIK_PATCH_VERSION)
+
+#else
+# define MAPNIK_VERSION_STRING  MAPNIK_STRINGIFY(MAPNIK_MAJOR_VERSION) "." \
+                                MAPNIK_STRINGIFY(MAPNIK_MINOR_VERSION) "." \
+                                MAPNIK_STRINGIFY(MAPNIK_PATCH_VERSION) "-pre"
+#endif
 
 #endif // MAPNIK_VERSION_HPP
diff --git a/src/build.py b/src/build.py
index 78df41b46..956b5d550 100644
--- a/src/build.py
+++ b/src/build.py
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ else:
 if env['PLATFORM'] == 'Darwin':
     mapnik_libname = 'libmapnik.dylib'
 else:
-    mapnik_libname = 'libmapnik.so.' + ("%d.%d" % (ABI_VERSION[0],ABI_VERSION[1])) 
+    mapnik_libname = 'libmapnik.so.' + ("%d.%d" % (int(ABI_VERSION[0]),int(ABI_VERSION[1])))
 
 if env['PLATFORM'] == 'Darwin':
     if env['FULL_LIB_PATH']:
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ if env['PLATFORM'] == 'Darwin':
     else:
         lib_path = mapnik_libname
     mapnik_lib_link_flag += ' -Wl,-install_name,%s' % lib_path
-    _d = {'version':env['MAPNIK_VERSION_STRING']}
+    _d = {'version':env['MAPNIK_VERSION_STRING'].replace('-pre','')}
     mapnik_lib_link_flag += ' -current_version %(version)s -compatibility_version %(version)s' % _d
 elif env['PLATFORM'] == 'SunOS':
     if env['CXX'].startswith('CC'):