diff --git a/src/Makefile b/src/Makefile
index b447f5cb..83570b41 100644
--- a/src/Makefile
+++ b/src/Makefile
@@ -37,10 +37,6 @@ LIBBPF_BOOTSTRAP := $(LIBBPF_BOOTSTRAP_OUTPUT)libbpf.a
 LIBBPF_INTERNAL_HDRS := $(addprefix $(LIBBPF_HDRS_DIR)/,hashmap.h nlattr.h)
 LIBBPF_BOOTSTRAP_INTERNAL_HDRS := $(addprefix $(LIBBPF_BOOTSTRAP_HDRS_DIR)/,hashmap.h)
 
-ifeq ($(BPFTOOL_VERSION),)
-BPFTOOL_VERSION := 5.16.0+dc37dc617fab
-endif
-
 $(LIBBPF_OUTPUT) $(BOOTSTRAP_OUTPUT) $(LIBBPF_BOOTSTRAP_OUTPUT) $(LIBBPF_HDRS_DIR) $(LIBBPF_BOOTSTRAP_HDRS_DIR):
 	$(QUIET_MKDIR)mkdir -p $@
 
@@ -81,7 +77,9 @@ CFLAGS += -DPACKAGE='"bpftool"' -D__EXPORTED_HEADERS__ \
 	-I$(srctree)/src/kernel/bpf/ \
 	-I$(srctree)/include \
 	-I$(srctree)/include/uapi
+ifneq ($(BPFTOOL_VERSION),)
 CFLAGS += -DBPFTOOL_VERSION='"$(BPFTOOL_VERSION)"'
+endif
 ifneq ($(EXTRA_CFLAGS),)
 CFLAGS += $(EXTRA_CFLAGS)
 endif
diff --git a/src/main.c b/src/main.c
index 0f2f8de5..e8122776 100644
--- a/src/main.c
+++ b/src/main.c
@@ -71,6 +71,17 @@ static int do_help(int argc, char **argv)
 	return 0;
 }
 
+#ifndef BPFTOOL_VERSION
+/* bpftool's major and minor version numbers are aligned on libbpf's. There is
+ * an offset of 6 for the version number, because bpftool's version was higher
+ * than libbpf's when we adopted this scheme. The patch number remains at 0
+ * for now. Set BPFTOOL_VERSION to override.
+ */
+#define BPFTOOL_MAJOR_VERSION (LIBBPF_MAJOR_VERSION + 6)
+#define BPFTOOL_MINOR_VERSION LIBBPF_MINOR_VERSION
+#define BPFTOOL_PATCH_VERSION 0
+#endif
+
 static int do_version(int argc, char **argv)
 {
 #ifdef HAVE_LIBBFD_SUPPORT
@@ -88,7 +99,12 @@ static int do_version(int argc, char **argv)
 		jsonw_start_object(json_wtr);	/* root object */
 
 		jsonw_name(json_wtr, "version");
+#ifdef BPFTOOL_VERSION
 		jsonw_printf(json_wtr, "\"%s\"", BPFTOOL_VERSION);
+#else
+		jsonw_printf(json_wtr, "\"%d.%d.%d\"", BPFTOOL_MAJOR_VERSION,
+			     BPFTOOL_MINOR_VERSION, BPFTOOL_PATCH_VERSION);
+#endif
 		jsonw_name(json_wtr, "libbpf_version");
 		jsonw_printf(json_wtr, "\"%d.%d\"",
 			     libbpf_major_version(), libbpf_minor_version());
@@ -104,7 +120,12 @@ static int do_version(int argc, char **argv)
 	} else {
 		unsigned int nb_features = 0;
 
+#ifdef BPFTOOL_VERSION
 		printf("%s v%s\n", bin_name, BPFTOOL_VERSION);
+#else
+		printf("%s v%d.%d.%d\n", bin_name, BPFTOOL_MAJOR_VERSION,
+		       BPFTOOL_MINOR_VERSION, BPFTOOL_PATCH_VERSION);
+#endif
 		printf("using libbpf %s\n", libbpf_version_string());
 		printf("features:");
 		if (has_libbfd) {