--- /dev/null
+#!/bin/sh
+#
+# binutils-version [-p] gas-command
+#
+# Prints the binutils version of `gas-command' in a canonical 4-digit form
+# such as `0222' for binutils 2.22
+#
+
+gas="$*"
+
+if [ ${#gas} -eq 0 ]; then
+ echo "Error: No assembler specified."
+ printf "Usage:\n\t$0 <gas-command>\n"
+ exit 1
+fi
+
+MAJOR=$($gas --version | head -1 | awk '{print $NF}' | cut -d . -f 1)
+MINOR=$($gas --version | head -1 | awk '{print $NF}' | cut -d . -f 2)
+
+printf "%02d%02d\\n" $MAJOR $MINOR