diff --git a/Rakefile b/Rakefile
index c5dd389..66a71f5 100644
--- a/Rakefile
+++ b/Rakefile
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 
 require 'pathname'
 require 'rake'
-require 'rake/gempackagetask'
-require 'rake/rdoctask'
+require 'rubygems/package_task'
+require 'rdoc/task'
 require 'rake/testtask'
 
 gemspec = eval( File.read('ruby-filemagic.gemspec') )
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ task :install do
 end
 
 task :gem
-Rake::GemPackageTask.new(gemspec) do |pkg|
+Gem::PackageTask.new(gemspec) do |pkg|
   pkg.need_tar = true
 end
 
diff --git a/filemagic.c b/filemagic.c
index f94c888..67b83c3 100644
--- a/filemagic.c
+++ b/filemagic.c
@@ -84,6 +84,11 @@ static VALUE magick_new(int argc, VALUE *argv, VALUE obj)
     return obj;
 }
 
+static VALUE magick_version() {
+    return INT2FIX(MAGIC_VERSION);
+}
+
+
 /* Return a string describing file */
 static VALUE magick_file(VALUE class, VALUE file)
 {
@@ -142,6 +147,7 @@ void Init_filemagic() {
     rb_define_method(cFileMagic, "buffer", magick_buffer, 1);
     rb_define_method(cFileMagic, "check", magick_check, 1);
     rb_define_method(cFileMagic, "compile", magick_compile, 1);
+    rb_define_method(cFileMagic, "version", magick_version, 0);
     rb_define_attr(cFileMagic, "flags", 1, 1);
     rb_define_const(cFileMagic, "MAGIC_NONE", INT2FIX(MAGIC_NONE));
     rb_define_const(cFileMagic, "MAGIC_DEBUG", INT2FIX(MAGIC_DEBUG));
diff --git a/filemagic.rd b/filemagic.rd
index b8e0c09..87620fe 100644
--- a/filemagic.rd
+++ b/filemagic.rd
@@ -38,5 +38,7 @@
     returns the instance flags (see "Constants" above).
 : flags=(flags)
     set the instance flags (see "Constants" above).
+: version()
+    returns the libmagic version.
 : new(flags=MAGIC_NONE)
     create a new FileMagic instance.
diff --git a/test/regress.rb b/test/regress.rb
index 582f6be..c296bce 100644
--- a/test/regress.rb
+++ b/test/regress.rb
@@ -70,4 +70,11 @@ def test_flags
     fm.flags = FileMagic::MAGIC_NONE
     assert_equal(FileMagic::MAGIC_NONE, fm.flags)
   end
+
+  def test_version
+    fm = FileMagic.new(FileMagic::MAGIC_SYMLINK | FileMagic::MAGIC_MIME)
+    fm_version = fm.version
+    assert_not_nil(fm_version)
+    assert_equal(fm_version > 400, true)
+  end
 end