diff --git a/src/esx/esx_driver.c b/src/esx/esx_driver.c
index 20376e926d022f7b52d5f727547f322ba5769e02..7a92c4dc4b571c425cd4e03030e12802243160b0 100644
--- a/src/esx/esx_driver.c
+++ b/src/esx/esx_driver.c
@@ -684,34 +684,17 @@ static int
 esxGetVersion(virConnectPtr conn, unsigned long *version)
 {
     esxPrivate *priv = conn->privateData;
-    char *temp;
-    unsigned int major, minor, release;
 
-    temp = (char *)priv->host->service->about->version;
-
-    /* Expecting 'major.minor.release' format */
-    if (virStrToLong_ui(temp, &temp, 10, &major) < 0 || *temp != '.') {
-        goto failure;
-    }
-
-    if (virStrToLong_ui(temp + 1, &temp, 10, &minor) < 0 || *temp != '.') {
-        goto failure;
-    }
+    if (virParseVersionString(priv->host->service->about->version,
+                              version) < 0) {
+        ESX_ERROR(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR,
+                  "Could not parse version number from '%s'",
+                  priv->host->service->about->version);
 
-    if (virStrToLong_ui(temp + 1, NULL, 10, &release) < 0) {
-        goto failure;
+        return -1;
     }
 
-    *version = 1000000 * major + 1000 * minor + release;
-
     return 0;
-
-  failure:
-    ESX_ERROR(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR,
-              "Expecting version to match 'major.minor.release', but got '%s'",
-              priv->host->service->about->version);
-
-    return -1;
 }
 
 
diff --git a/src/internal.h b/src/internal.h
index f82fbd253387585a04f70f3d12de6f3216fa52de..807288b86810aa02fed65f21b564ede12d810092 100644
--- a/src/internal.h
+++ b/src/internal.h
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@
 # define STRNEQLEN(a,b,n) (strncmp(a,b,n) != 0)
 # define STRCASENEQLEN(a,b,n) (strncasecmp(a,b,n) != 0)
 # define STRPREFIX(a,b) (strncmp(a,b,strlen(b)) == 0)
+# define STRSKIP(a,b) (STRPREFIX(a,b) ? (a) + strlen(b) : NULL)
 
 # define STREQ_NULLABLE(a, b)                           \
     ((!(a) && !(b)) || ((a) && (b) && STREQ((a), (b))))
diff --git a/src/libvirt_private.syms b/src/libvirt_private.syms
index cc943f821be50881f9a8baf1675fcbd393bd71ff..edb23c22734380ea6cbf6bc5ed70e12b94e86894 100644
--- a/src/libvirt_private.syms
+++ b/src/libvirt_private.syms
@@ -648,6 +648,7 @@ virFilePid;
 virFileReadPid;
 virFileLinkPointsTo;
 virParseNumber;
+virParseVersionString;
 virPipeReadUntilEOF;
 virAsprintf;
 virRun;
diff --git a/src/lxc/lxc_driver.c b/src/lxc/lxc_driver.c
index 7ebc7ae9d1c29b381271a051147e8bbc23fba86d..9caefa13a43a95d866b9563c9720124c1966beaf 100644
--- a/src/lxc/lxc_driver.c
+++ b/src/lxc/lxc_driver.c
@@ -1951,20 +1951,14 @@ lxcActive(void) {
 static int lxcVersion(virConnectPtr conn ATTRIBUTE_UNUSED, unsigned long *version)
 {
     struct utsname ver;
-    int maj;
-    int min;
-    int rev;
 
     uname(&ver);
 
-    if (sscanf(ver.release, "%i.%i.%i", &maj, &min, &rev) != 3) {
-        lxcError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR,
-                 _("Unknown release: %s"), ver.release);
+    if (virParseVersionString(ver.release, version) < 0) {
+        lxcError(VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR, _("Unknown release: %s"), ver.release);
         return -1;
     }
 
-    *version = (maj * 1000 * 1000) + (min * 1000) + rev;
-
     return 0;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/openvz/openvz_conf.c b/src/openvz/openvz_conf.c
index 3713a458df9235abcc6e66830f7652448c835e67..7fc3cd10e47d7433344f195c3832db9cd7d115f8 100644
--- a/src/openvz/openvz_conf.c
+++ b/src/openvz/openvz_conf.c
@@ -78,8 +78,8 @@ openvzExtractVersionInfo(const char *cmd, int *retversion)
     pid_t child;
     int newstdout = -1;
     int ret = -1, status;
-    unsigned int major, minor, micro;
-    unsigned int version;
+    unsigned long version;
+    char *tmp;
 
     if (retversion)
         *retversion = 0;
@@ -93,12 +93,14 @@ openvzExtractVersionInfo(const char *cmd, int *retversion)
     if (len < 0)
         goto cleanup2;
 
-    if (sscanf(help, "vzctl version %u.%u.%u",
-               &major, &minor, &micro) != 3) {
+    tmp = help;
+
+    /* expected format: vzctl version <major>.<minor>.<micro> */
+    if ((tmp = STRSKIP(tmp, "vzctl version ")) == NULL)
         goto cleanup2;
-    }
 
-    version = (major * 1000 * 1000) + (minor * 1000) + micro;
+    if (virParseVersionString(tmp, &version) < 0)
+        goto cleanup2;
 
     if (retversion)
         *retversion = version;
diff --git a/src/uml/uml_conf.h b/src/uml/uml_conf.h
index 70c3f7df2fd4a784feff6495c51d4ae218fe40d3..4d434e1b7a61e48fb747d8231a8316dc9b9016fd 100644
--- a/src/uml/uml_conf.h
+++ b/src/uml/uml_conf.h
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ struct uml_driver {
 
     int privileged;
 
-    unsigned int umlVersion;
+    unsigned long umlVersion;
     int nextvmid;
 
     virDomainObjList domains;
diff --git a/src/uml/uml_driver.c b/src/uml/uml_driver.c
index 835e5d4ca3426d724bf1acde7a343181ceb16855..08fbf930bd791149189c0f16335e13b4a3401c17 100644
--- a/src/uml/uml_driver.c
+++ b/src/uml/uml_driver.c
@@ -1225,17 +1225,18 @@ cleanup:
 static int umlGetVersion(virConnectPtr conn, unsigned long *version) {
     struct uml_driver *driver = conn->privateData;
     struct utsname ut;
-    int major, minor, micro;
     int ret = -1;
 
-    uname(&ut);
-
     umlDriverLock(driver);
-    if (sscanf(ut.release, "%u.%u.%u",
-               &major, &minor, &micro) != 3) {
-        umlReportError(conn, NULL, NULL, VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR,
-                       _("cannot parse version %s"), ut.release);
-        goto cleanup;
+
+    if (driver->umlVersion == 0) {
+        uname(&ut);
+
+        if (virParseVersionString(ut.release, &driver->umlVersion) < 0) {
+            umlReportError(conn, NULL, NULL, VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR,
+                           _("cannot parse version %s"), ut.release);
+            goto cleanup;
+        }
     }
 
     *version = driver->umlVersion;
diff --git a/src/util/util.c b/src/util/util.c
index 62dc5f191e8e14ef39d1c9b03afdbf564f1a4b16..28a3c7ed09313bb3893de6580d2a66d51d21ec25 100644
--- a/src/util/util.c
+++ b/src/util/util.c
@@ -2074,6 +2074,41 @@ virParseNumber(const char **str)
     return (ret);
 }
 
+
+/**
+ * virParseVersionString:
+ * @str: const char pointer to the version string
+ * @version: unsigned long pointer to output the version number
+ *
+ * Parse an unsigned version number from a version string. Expecting
+ * 'major.minor.micro' format, ignoring an optional suffix.
+ *
+ * The major, minor and micro numbers are encoded into a single version number:
+ *
+ *   1000000 * major + 1000 * minor + micro
+ *
+ * Returns the 0 for success, -1 for error.
+ */
+int
+virParseVersionString(const char *str, unsigned long *version)
+{
+    unsigned int major, minor, micro;
+    char *tmp;
+
+    if (virStrToLong_ui(str, &tmp, 10, &major) < 0 || *tmp != '.')
+        return -1;
+
+    if (virStrToLong_ui(tmp + 1, &tmp, 10, &minor) < 0 || *tmp != '.')
+        return -1;
+
+    if (virStrToLong_ui(tmp + 1, &tmp, 10, &micro) < 0)
+        return -1;
+
+    *version = 1000000 * major + 1000 * minor + micro;
+
+    return 0;
+}
+
 /**
  * virAsprintf
  *
diff --git a/src/util/util.h b/src/util/util.h
index 24dfbfc3eefe32cf8ae4bc491ab834ebe72f8115..c25611763ea0440647ff5024138c9a4e02861f2d 100644
--- a/src/util/util.h
+++ b/src/util/util.h
@@ -189,6 +189,7 @@ int virMacAddrCompare (const char *mac1, const char *mac2);
 
 void virSkipSpaces(const char **str);
 int virParseNumber(const char **str);
+int virParseVersionString(const char *str, unsigned long *version);
 int virAsprintf(char **strp, const char *fmt, ...) ATTRIBUTE_FMT_PRINTF(2, 3);
 char *virStrncpy(char *dest, const char *src, size_t n, size_t destbytes)
     ATTRIBUTE_RETURN_CHECK;
diff --git a/src/vbox/vbox_tmpl.c b/src/vbox/vbox_tmpl.c
index f7a9b9fee30886a4922503e07be2cee1e92dd6a1..05b075fddd194a173a809f8e1f9ba9386a305d42 100644
--- a/src/vbox/vbox_tmpl.c
+++ b/src/vbox/vbox_tmpl.c
@@ -157,7 +157,7 @@ if (strUtf16) {\
 
 typedef struct {
     virMutex lock;
-    int version;
+    unsigned long version;
 
     virCapsPtr caps;
 
@@ -713,10 +713,7 @@ cleanup:
 }
 
 static int vboxExtractVersion(virConnectPtr conn, vboxGlobalData *data) {
-    unsigned int major      = 0;
-    unsigned int minor      = 0;
-    unsigned int micro      = 0;
-    int          ret        = -1;
+    int ret = -1;
     PRUnichar *versionUtf16 = NULL;
     nsresult rc;
 
@@ -729,20 +726,17 @@ static int vboxExtractVersion(virConnectPtr conn, vboxGlobalData *data) {
 
         VBOX_UTF16_TO_UTF8(versionUtf16, &vboxVersion);
 
-        if (sscanf(vboxVersion, "%u.%u.%u", &major, &minor, &micro) == 3)
+        if (virParseVersionString(vboxVersion, &data->version) >= 0)
             ret = 0;
 
         VBOX_UTF8_FREE(vboxVersion);
         VBOX_COM_UNALLOC_MEM(versionUtf16);
-    } else {
-        ret = -1;
     }
 
-    data->version = (major * 1000 * 1000) + (minor * 1000) + micro;
-
     if (ret != 0)
         vboxError(conn, VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR,"%s",
                   "Cound not extract VirtualBox version");
+
     return ret;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/xenapi/xenapi_driver.c b/src/xenapi/xenapi_driver.c
index d48bb4da25603897d3bb6fc8bdc3f3b645695364..dcfdc1e0832683be914128275583957017fb7c9f 100644
--- a/src/xenapi/xenapi_driver.c
+++ b/src/xenapi/xenapi_driver.c
@@ -253,9 +253,8 @@ xenapiGetVersion (virConnectPtr conn, unsigned long *hvVer)
     xen_host host;
     xen_session *session = ((struct _xenapiPrivate *)(conn->privateData))->session;
     xen_string_string_map *result = NULL;
-    int i;
+    int i, ret = -1;
     char *version = NULL;
-    unsigned long major = 0, minor = 0, release = 0;
     if (!(xen_session_get_this_host(session, &host, session))) {
         xenapiSessionErrorHandler(conn, VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR, NULL);
         return -1;
@@ -278,18 +277,17 @@ xenapiGetVersion (virConnectPtr conn, unsigned long *hvVer)
             }
         }
         if (version) {
-            if (sscanf(version, "%ld.%ld.%ld", &major, &minor, &release) != 3) {
+            if (virParseVersionString(version, hvVer) < 0)
                 xenapiSessionErrorHandler(conn, VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR,
-                                          _("Couldn't get version info"));
-                xen_string_string_map_free(result);
-                VIR_FREE(version);
-                return -1;
-            }
-            *hvVer = major * 1000000 + minor * 1000 + release;
-            VIR_FREE(version);
+                                          _("Couldn't parse version info"));
+            else
+                ret = 0;
             xen_string_string_map_free(result);
-            return 0;
+            VIR_FREE(version);
+            return ret;
         }
+        xenapiSessionErrorHandler(conn, VIR_ERR_INTERNAL_ERROR,
+                                  _("Couldn't get version info"));
     }
     return -1;
 }