diff --git a/make/tex.mk b/make/tex.mk
index e2095ba0..02ee42fd 100644
--- a/make/tex.mk
+++ b/make/tex.mk
@@ -32,6 +32,10 @@ GENERATED_HTML = $(filter %.html,$(GENERATED))
 
 CMD_PARSE_GRAPHICS = sed '/includegraphics/ !d; s/[^{]*{\([^}]*\).*/\1/; /^\.\./ d; s/^.\///' *.tex *.tmpl | sort -u
 
+ifeq ($(DIST_VERSION),)
+DIST_VERSION      = $(VERSION)
+endif
+
 # all
 TEX  = $(PRE_TEX_LOCAL) $(GENERATED_TEX)
 EPS  = $(GENERATED_EPS)
@@ -92,7 +96,7 @@ define mangle_tmpl
 		s%__DATE__%$(DATE)%g; \
 		s%__AUTHORS__%$(AUTHORS)%g; \
 		s%__TITLE__%$(TITLE)%g; \
-		s%__VERSION__%$(VERSION)%g; \
+		s%__VERSION__%$(DIST_VERSION)%g; \
 		s%__SUBTITLE__%$(SUBTITLE)%g; \
 		s%__CONFIDENTIAL_REMARK__%$(CONFIDENTIAL_REMARK)%g; \
 		s%__HEADER__%$(HEADER)%g; \