diff --git a/gtk2_ardour/ardour.appdata.xml.in.in b/gtk2_ardour/ardour.appdata.xml.in.in
index a7f4975cbb..1b2b940fb7 100644
--- a/gtk2_ardour/ardour.appdata.xml.in.in
+++ b/gtk2_ardour/ardour.appdata.xml.in.in
@@ -4,6 +4,9 @@
   <metadata_license>CC0-1.0</metadata_license>
   <project_license>GPL-2.0+</project_license>
   <name>Ardour</name>
+  <releases>
+    <release version="@VERSION@" />
+  </releases>
   <summary>Digital Audio Workstation</summary>
   <description>
     <p>
diff --git a/gtk2_ardour/wscript b/gtk2_ardour/wscript
index a6c0af1a12..38d93893d0 100644
--- a/gtk2_ardour/wscript
+++ b/gtk2_ardour/wscript
@@ -674,7 +674,8 @@ def build(bld):
     # Freedesktop
     freedesktop_subst_dict = {
                     'ARDOUR_EXEC' : str (bld.env['lwrcase_dirname']),
-                    'ARDOUR_ICON' : str (bld.env['lwrcase_dirname'])
+                    'ARDOUR_ICON' : str (bld.env['lwrcase_dirname']),
+                    'VERSION': str (bld.env['VERSION']),
     }
 
     if bld.env['FREEDESKTOP']: