--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -32,7 +32,12 @@
 m4_ifdef([AM_SILENT_RULES], [AM_SILENT_RULES([yes])],
          [AC_SUBST([AM_DEFAULT_VERBOSITY], [1])])
 
-LIBCDIO_VERSION_NUM=`echo RELEASE_NUM | cut -d . -f 1 | tr -d a-z`
+# Broken by design. See also
+# https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?52491
+# and
+# http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/libcdio.git/patch/?id=2d22ae18571caf29460a456340ff0603f04af6b4
+#LIBCDIO_VERSION_NUM=`echo RELEASE_NUM | cut -d . -f 1 | tr -d a-z`
+LIBCDIO_VERSION_NUM=10000
 AC_SUBST(LIBCDIO_VERSION_NUM)
 
 AM_MISSING_PROG(HELP2MAN, help2man, $missing_dir)