diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 67e384935..6d034a6e0 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ include(FindPackageMessage)
 include(GNUInstallDirs)
 
 set(CONFIG_DIR "${CMAKE_INSTALL_FULL_SYSCONFDIR}")
-set(AVRDUDE_FULL_VERSION ${CMAKE_PROJECT_VERSION})
+set(AVRDUDE_FULL_VERSION "${CMAKE_PROJECT_VERSION}${EXTRA_VERSION_SUFFIX}")
 
 # =====================================
 # Get Git commit info
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ if(Git_FOUND)
 
     # If the commit is not tagged, include the date and commit hash in the full version string.
     if(NOT GIT_COMMIT_HASH STREQUAL GIT_TAG_HASH)
-        set(AVRDUDE_FULL_VERSION "${CMAKE_PROJECT_VERSION}-${GIT_COMMIT_DATE} (${GIT_COMMIT_HASH})")
+        set(AVRDUDE_FULL_VERSION "${CMAKE_PROJECT_VERSION}-${GIT_COMMIT_DATE}${EXTRA_VERSION_SUFFIX} (${GIT_COMMIT_HASH})")
     endif()
 endif()
 
@@ -373,6 +373,7 @@ if (DEBUG_CMAKE)
     message(STATUS "CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH: ${CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH}")
     message(STATUS "CMAKE_C_COMPILER: ${CMAKE_C_COMPILER}")
     message(STATUS "CONFIG_DIR: ${CONFIG_DIR}")
+    message(STATUS "EXTRA_VERSION_SUFFIX: ${EXTRA_VERSION_SUFFIX}")
     message(STATUS "AVRDUDE_FULL_VERSION: ${AVRDUDE_FULL_VERSION}")
     message(STATUS "USE_EXTERNAL_LIBS: ${USE_EXTERNAL_LIBS}")
     message(STATUS "USE_LIBUSBWIN32: ${USE_LIBUSBWIN32}")
diff --git a/src/configure.ac b/src/configure.ac
index 91f6a4459..060564487 100644
--- a/src/configure.ac
+++ b/src/configure.ac
@@ -80,11 +80,13 @@ AC_MSG_RESULT([$PACKAGE_VERSION])
 dnl Compose the full version message mirroring the cmake one, inform
 dnl about it and pass it on to avrdude.conf and the "avrdude -?"
 dnl version message
+AC_ARG_VAR([EXTRA_VERSION_SUFFIX],
+           [extra version information to be appended to the version])
 AC_MSG_CHECKING([versioninfo derived AVRDUDE_FULL_VERSION])
 if test "x$GIT_COMMIT_HASH" = "x$GIT_TAG_HASH"; then
-	AVRDUDE_FULL_VERSION="$PACKAGE_VERSION"
+	AVRDUDE_FULL_VERSION="$PACKAGE_VERSION$EXTRA_VERSION_SUFFIX"
 else
-	AVRDUDE_FULL_VERSION="$PACKAGE_VERSION ($GIT_COMMIT_HASH)"
+	AVRDUDE_FULL_VERSION="$PACKAGE_VERSION$EXTRA_VERSION_SUFFIX ($GIT_COMMIT_HASH)"
 fi
 AC_MSG_RESULT([$AVRDUDE_FULL_VERSION])
 AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED([AVRDUDE_FULL_VERSION], ["$AVRDUDE_FULL_VERSION"],