diff --git a/src/java/org/lwjgl/DefaultSysImplementation.java b/src/java/org/lwjgl/DefaultSysImplementation.java
index dd8d200f..54223244 100644
--- a/src/java/org/lwjgl/DefaultSysImplementation.java
+++ b/src/java/org/lwjgl/DefaultSysImplementation.java
@@ -39,7 +39,10 @@ package org.lwjgl;
  * $Id$
  */
 abstract class DefaultSysImplementation implements SysImplementation {
-	public native String getNativeLibraryVersion();
+	/** Included to let native have easy access to Sys.JNI_VERSION */
+	private final static int JNI_VERSION = Sys.JNI_VERSION;
+
+	public native int getJNIVersion();
 	public native void setDebug(boolean debug);
 
 	public long getTimerResolution() {
diff --git a/src/java/org/lwjgl/Sys.java b/src/java/org/lwjgl/Sys.java
index 03e50985..ab4e7084 100644
--- a/src/java/org/lwjgl/Sys.java
+++ b/src/java/org/lwjgl/Sys.java
@@ -56,6 +56,9 @@ public final class Sys {
 	/** Current version of library */
 	private static final String VERSION = "1.0beta2";
 
+	/** Current version of the JNI library */
+	static final int JNI_VERSION = 1;
+
 	/** The implementation instance to delegate platform specific behavior to */
 	private final static SysImplementation implementation;
 
@@ -97,10 +100,10 @@ public final class Sys {
 		implementation = createImplementation();
 		loadLibrary(JNI_LIBRARY_NAME);
 		
-		String native_version = implementation.getNativeLibraryVersion();
-		if (!native_version.equals(getVersion()))
-			throw new LinkageError("Version mismatch: jar version is '" + getVersion() +
-                             "', native libary version is '" + native_version + "'");
+		int native_jni_version = implementation.getJNIVersion();
+		if (native_jni_version != JNI_VERSION)
+			throw new LinkageError("Version mismatch: jar version is '" + JNI_VERSION +
+                             "', native libary version is '" + native_jni_version + "'");
 		implementation.setDebug(LWJGLUtil.DEBUG);
 	}
 
diff --git a/src/java/org/lwjgl/SysImplementation.java b/src/java/org/lwjgl/SysImplementation.java
index f7c9e7d3..e29946b0 100644
--- a/src/java/org/lwjgl/SysImplementation.java
+++ b/src/java/org/lwjgl/SysImplementation.java
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ interface SysImplementation {
 	/**
 	 * Return the version of the native library
 	 */
-	String getNativeLibraryVersion();
+	int getJNIVersion();
 
 	void setDebug(boolean debug);
 
diff --git a/src/native/common/common_tools.c b/src/native/common/common_tools.c
index f424893b..cbda3691 100644
--- a/src/native/common/common_tools.c
+++ b/src/native/common/common_tools.c
@@ -48,7 +48,6 @@
 #include "org_lwjgl_DefaultSysImplementation.h"
 
 static bool debug = false;
-static const char* VERSION = "1.0beta2";
 static JavaVM *jvm;
 
 void initAttribList(attrib_list_t *list) {
@@ -64,9 +63,9 @@ void putAttrib(attrib_list_t *list, int attrib) {
 	list->current_index++;
 }
 
-JNIEXPORT jstring JNICALL Java_org_lwjgl_DefaultSysImplementation_getNativeLibraryVersion
+JNIEXPORT jint JNICALL Java_org_lwjgl_DefaultSysImplementation_getJNIVersion
   (JNIEnv *env, jobject ignored) {
-	return NewStringNative(env, VERSION);
+	return org_lwjgl_DefaultSysImplementation_JNI_VERSION;
 }
 
 JNIEXPORT void JNICALL Java_org_lwjgl_DefaultSysImplementation_setDebug