diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 7fc1c5c87..88a1223fb 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,8 +1,38 @@
 cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.14)
-project(notcurses VERSION 1.4.3
+
+# Shared library versioning is done in the same way as SDL:
+#
+# If the version changes, then:
+#
+#   NOTCURSES_VERSION_MICRO += 1;
+#   NOTCURSES_INTERFACE_AGE += 1;
+#   NOTCURSES_BINARY_AGE += 1;
+# if any functions/classes/methods have been added, set NOTCURSES_INTERFACE_AGE to 0.
+# if backwards compatibility has been broken,
+# set NOTCURSES_BINARY_AGE and NOTCURSES_INTERFACE_AGE to 0.
+
+set(NOTCURSES_VERSION_MAJOR 1)
+set(NOTCURSES_VERSION_MINOR 5)
+set(NOTCURSES_VERSION_MICRO 0)
+
+set(NOTCURSES_INTERFACE_AGE 0)
+set(NOTCURSES_BINARY_AGE 1)
+
+set(NOTCURSES_VERSION "${NOTCURSES_VERSION_MAJOR}.${NOTCURSES_VERSION_MINOR}.${NOTCURSES_VERSION_MICRO}")
+
+# Calculate a libtool-like version number (taken from SDL2 CMakeLists.txt)
+math(EXPR LT_CURRENT "${NOTCURSES_VERSION_MICRO} - ${NOTCURSES_INTERFACE_AGE}")
+math(EXPR LT_AGE "${NOTCURSES_BINARY_AGE} - ${NOTCURSES_INTERFACE_AGE}")
+math(EXPR LT_MAJOR "${LT_CURRENT} - ${LT_AGE}")
+set(LT_REVISION "${NOTCURSES_INTERFACE_AGE}")
+set(LT_RELEASE "${NOTCURSES_VERSION_MAJOR}.${NOTCURSES_VERSION_MINOR}")
+set(LT_VERSION "${LT_MAJOR}.${LT_AGE}.${LT_REVISION}")
+
+project(notcurses VERSION ${NOTCURSES_VERSION_MAJOR}.${NOTCURSES_VERSION_MINOR}.${NOTCURSES_VERSION_MICRO}
   DESCRIPTION "UI for modern terminal emulators"
   HOMEPAGE_URL "https://nick-black.com/dankwiki/index.php/notcurses"
   LANGUAGES C CXX)
+
 set(CMAKE_CXX_EXTENSIONS OFF)
 set(CMAKE_C_STANDARD 11)
 set(CMAKE_C_VISIBILITY_PRESET hidden)
@@ -94,17 +124,15 @@ add_library(notcurses-static STATIC EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL ${NCSRCS})
 endif()
 set_target_properties(
   notcurses-static PROPERTIES
-  OUTPUT_NAME notcurses
+  OUTPUT_NAME notcurses-${LT_RELEASE}
 )
 
 set_target_properties(notcurses PROPERTIES
-  VERSION ${PROJECT_VERSION}
-  SOVERSION ${PROJECT_VERSION_MAJOR}
-)
-set_target_properties(notcurses-static PROPERTIES
-  VERSION ${PROJECT_VERSION}
-  SOVERSION ${PROJECT_VERSION_MAJOR}
+  VERSION ${NOTCURSES_VERSION}
+  SOVERSION ${LT_REVISION}
+  OUTPUT_NAME notcurses-${LT_RELEASE}
 )
+
 target_include_directories(notcurses
   PRIVATE
     include
@@ -239,14 +267,14 @@ add_library(notcurses++-static STATIC EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL ${NCPP_SOURCES})
 endif()
 set_target_properties(
   notcurses++-static PROPERTIES
-  OUTPUT_NAME notcurses++
+  OUTPUT_NAME notcurses++-${LT_RELEASE}
   )
 
 set_target_properties(
   notcurses++ PROPERTIES
-  VERSION ${PROJECT_VERSION}
-  SOVERSION ${PROJECT_VERSION_MAJOR}
-  OUTPUT_NAME "notcurses++")
+  VERSION ${NOTCURSES_VERSION}
+  SOVERSION ${LT_REVISION}
+  OUTPUT_NAME notcurses++-${LT_RELEASE})
 
 set(NCPP_INCLUDE_DIRS
   include
diff --git a/tools/notcurses++.pc.in b/tools/notcurses++.pc.in
index 42fa811ea..be515e4a3 100644
--- a/tools/notcurses++.pc.in
+++ b/tools/notcurses++.pc.in
@@ -5,8 +5,8 @@ includedir=${prefix}/@CMAKE_INSTALL_INCLUDEDIR@
 
 Name: @PROJECT_NAME@
 Description: C++ bindings for notcurses
-Version: @PROJECT_VERSION@
+Version: @NOTCURSES_VERSION@
 
-Requires: notcurses >= @PROJECT_VERSION@
-Libs: -L${libdir} -lnotcurses++
+Requires: notcurses = @NOTCURSES_VERSION@
+Libs: -L${libdir} -lnotcurses++-@LT_RELEASE@
 Cflags: -I${includedir}
diff --git a/tools/notcurses.pc.in b/tools/notcurses.pc.in
index 367523693..2dcfdd57e 100644
--- a/tools/notcurses.pc.in
+++ b/tools/notcurses.pc.in
@@ -5,8 +5,8 @@ includedir=${prefix}/@CMAKE_INSTALL_INCLUDEDIR@
 
 Name: @PROJECT_NAME@
 Description: TUI library for modern terminal emulators
-Version: @PROJECT_VERSION@
+Version: @NOTCURSES_VERSION@
 
 Requires:
-Libs: -L${libdir} -lnotcurses
+Libs: -L${libdir} -lnotcurses-@LT_RELEASE@
 Cflags: -I${includedir}
diff --git a/tools/notcursesConfig.cmake.in b/tools/notcursesConfig.cmake.in
index ebce9204c..af97b0568 100644
--- a/tools/notcursesConfig.cmake.in
+++ b/tools/notcursesConfig.cmake.in
@@ -6,4 +6,4 @@ get_filename_component(NOTCURSES_CMAKE_DIR "${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_FILE}" PATH)
 set(NOTCURSES_INCLUDE_DIRS "@CONF_INCLUDE_DIRS@")
 set(NOTCURSES_LIBRARY_DIRS "@CONF_LIBRARY_DIRS@")
 
-set(notcurses_LIBRARIES -lnotcurses)
+set(notcurses_LIBRARIES -lnotcurses-@LT_RELEASE@)
diff --git a/tools/setup.py.in b/tools/setup.py.in
index 9b08d936b..a29bb2647 100644
--- a/tools/setup.py.in
+++ b/tools/setup.py.in
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ def read(fname):
 
 setup(
     name="notcurses",
-    version="${PROJECT_VERSION}",
+    version="${NOTCURSES_VERSION}",
     packages=['notcurses'],
     package_dir={ '': '${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/python/src' },
     author="Nick Black",