diff --git a/src/configure.in b/src/configure.in
index c20b198..ed30bed 100644
--- a/src/configure.in
+++ b/src/configure.in
@@ -1659,6 +1659,9 @@
           RUBY_CFLAGS="$RUBY_CFLAGS -I$rubyhdrdir/$rubyarch"
         fi
         rubyversion=`$vi_cv_path_ruby -r rbconfig -e "print $ruby_rbconfig::CONFIG[['ruby_version']].gsub(/\./, '')[[0,2]]"`
+	if test "X$rubyversion" = "X"; then
+	  rubyversion=`$vi_cv_path_ruby -e "print ((VERSION rescue RUBY_VERSION)).gsub(/\./, '')[[0,2]]"`
+	fi
         RUBY_CFLAGS="$RUBY_CFLAGS -DRUBY_VERSION=$rubyversion"
 	rubylibs=`$vi_cv_path_ruby -r rbconfig -e "print $ruby_rbconfig::CONFIG[['LIBS']]"`
 	if test "X$rubylibs" != "X"; then