diff --git a/servers/slapd/back-bdb/back-bdb.h b/servers/slapd/back-bdb/back-bdb.h
index fc286726ed..a95b084f11 100644
--- a/servers/slapd/back-bdb/back-bdb.h
+++ b/servers/slapd/back-bdb/back-bdb.h
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@
 
 LDAP_BEGIN_DECL
 
+#define DB_VERSION_FULL ((DB_VERSION_MAJOR << 24) | (DB_VERSION_MINOR << 16) | DB_VERSION_PATCH)
+
 #define BDB_SUBENTRIES 1
 
 #define DN_BASE_PREFIX		SLAP_INDEX_EQUALITY_PREFIX
@@ -227,7 +229,7 @@ struct bdb_op_info {
 #define XLOCK_ID_FREE(env, locker)	(env)->lock_id_free(env, locker)
 
 /* BDB 4.1.17 adds txn arg to db->open */
-#if DB_VERSION_MINOR > 1 || DB_VERSION_PATCH >= 17
+#if DB_VERSION_FULL >= 0x04010011
 #undef DB_OPEN
 #define	DB_OPEN(db, file, name, type, flags, mode) \
 	(db)->open(db, NULL, file, name, type, (flags)|DB_AUTO_COMMIT, mode)
diff --git a/servers/slapd/back-bdb/idl.c b/servers/slapd/back-bdb/idl.c
index b005d90d51..1e1453822d 100644
--- a/servers/slapd/back-bdb/idl.c
+++ b/servers/slapd/back-bdb/idl.c
@@ -438,7 +438,7 @@ bdb_idl_fetch_key(
 	 *
 	 * configure now requires Berkeley DB 4.1.
 	 */
-#if (DB_VERSION_MAJOR == 4) && (DB_VERSION_MINOR == 0)
+#if DB_VERSION_FULL < 0x04010000
 #	define BDB_ENOUGH 5
 #else
 #	define BDB_ENOUGH 1
diff --git a/servers/slapd/back-bdb/init.c b/servers/slapd/back-bdb/init.c
index 5d2552532d..cc3118f603 100644
--- a/servers/slapd/back-bdb/init.c
+++ b/servers/slapd/back-bdb/init.c
@@ -580,7 +580,7 @@ bdb_initialize(
 	bi->bi_controls = controls;
 
 	{	/* version check */
-		int major, minor, patch;
+		int major, minor, patch, ver;
 		char *version = db_version( &major, &minor, &patch );
 #ifdef HAVE_EBCDIC
 		char v2[1024];
@@ -594,9 +594,8 @@ bdb_initialize(
 		version = v2;
 #endif
 
-		if( major != DB_VERSION_MAJOR ||
-			minor != DB_VERSION_MINOR ||
-			patch < DB_VERSION_PATCH )
+		ver = (major << 24) | (minor << 16) | patch;
+		if( ver < DB_VERSION_FULL )
 		{
 			Debug( LDAP_DEBUG_ANY,
 				"bdb_initialize: BDB library version mismatch:"