diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index 620f953f..abf4287f 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -172,6 +172,7 @@ tasks.register('processSource', Sync) {
     line -> line
       .replaceAll('__builddate__', new Date().format("d MMM yyyy"))
       .replaceAll('__commithash__', gitOutput.toString().trim())
+      .replaceAll('__version__', version)
   } into "${project.buildDir}/src"
 }
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/helma/main/Server.java b/src/main/java/helma/main/Server.java
index b747f11e..6155de3b 100644
--- a/src/main/java/helma/main/Server.java
+++ b/src/main/java/helma/main/Server.java
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ import helma.util.ResourceProperties;
  */
 public class Server implements Runnable {
     // version string
-    public static final String version = "🐜";
+    public static final String version = "__version__";
 
     // build date
     public static final String buildDate = "__builddate__";
@@ -151,13 +151,8 @@ public class Server implements Runnable {
     public static void checkJavaVersion() {
         String javaVersion = System.getProperty("java.version");
 
-        if ((javaVersion == null) || javaVersion.startsWith("1.5")
-                                  || javaVersion.startsWith("1.4")
-                                  || javaVersion.startsWith("1.3")
-                                  || javaVersion.startsWith("1.2")
-                                  || javaVersion.startsWith("1.1")
-                                  || javaVersion.startsWith("1.0")) {
-            System.err.println("This version of Helma requires Java 1.6 or greater.");
+        if ((javaVersion == null) || !javaVersion.startsWith("11")) {
+            System.err.println("This version of Helma requires Java 11 or greater.");
 
             if (javaVersion == null) { // don't think this will ever happen, but you never know
                 System.err.println("Your Java Runtime did not provide a version number. Please update to a more recent version.");