+## SP_PROG_VERSION(program, sh-var)
+## Obtain the version of <program> and store it in <sh-var>.
+AC_DEFUN([SP_PROG_VERSION],
+[dnl
+m4_assert([$# >= 2])[]dnl
+sp_prog_ver=`$1 --version 2>&AS_MESSAGE_LOG_FD | sed 1q 2>&AS_MESSAGE_LOG_FD`
+AS_CASE([[$]?:$sp_prog_ver],
+ [[0:*[0-9].[0-9]*]], [$2=$sp_prog_ver],
+ [$2=unknown])[]dnl
+])
+
+SP_PROG_VERSION([$CC], [sp_cc_version])
+