diff --git a/README-maintainer.md b/README-maintainer.md
index 2f2e40ea..7b2bf99b 100644
--- a/README-maintainer.md
+++ b/README-maintainer.md
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@
   ```
   ./configure CFLAGS="-g" CXXFLAGS="-g" --enable-werror --disable-shared
   ```
-* Test for binary compatibility. The easiest way to do this is to check out the last release, run the test suite, check out the new release, run `make build_libqpdf`, check out the old release, and run `make check NO_REBUILD=1`.
 * When making a release, always remember to run large file tests and image comparison tests (`--enable-test-compare-images` `--with-large-file-test-path=/path`). For Windows, use a Windows style path, not an MSYS path for large files. For a major release, consider running a spelling checker over the source code to catch errors in variable names, strings, and comments. Use `ispell -p ispell-words`.
 * Run tests with sanitize address enabled:
   ```
@@ -20,6 +19,7 @@
 * Avoid atoi. Use QUtil::string_to_int instead. It does overflow/underflow checking.
 * Remember to avoid using `operator[]` with `std::string` or `std::vector`. Instead, use `at()`. See README-hardening.md for details.
 * Increment shared library version information as needed (`LT_*` in `configure.ac`)
+* Test for binary compatibility. The easiest way to do this is to check out the last release, run the test suite, check out the new release, run `./autogen.mk; ./configure --enable-werror; make build_libqpdf`, check out the old release, and run `make check NO_REBUILD=1`.
 * Update release notes in manual. Look at diffs and ChangeLog.
 * Add a release entry to ChangeLog.
 * Make sure version numbers are consistent in the following locations:
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index cd395d91..c28fedc6 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -35,6 +35,20 @@ LT_REVISION=0
 AC_SUBST(LT_CURRENT)
 AC_SUBST(LT_REVISION)
 AC_SUBST(LT_AGE)
+LT_SONAME=$(expr $LT_CURRENT - $LT_AGE)
+# BEGIN LT_SONAME WORKAROUND
+# For elf versioned symbols, get the soname version. Unfortunately,
+# there was a mistake at one point where we had 19 when we should have
+# had 18, so make this a special case until the next ABI change. At
+# that point, just remove the code deliminated by the LT_SONAME
+# WORKAROUND comments.
+if test $LT_SONAME = 18; then
+  LT_SONAME=19
+elif test $LT_SONAME -gt 18; then
+  AC_MSG_ERROR(Remove LT_SONAME workaround in configure.ac)
+fi
+# END LT_SONAME WORKAROUND
+AC_SUBST(LT_SONAME)
 
 AC_ARG_ENABLE(insecure-random,
    AS_HELP_STRING([--enable-insecure-random],
diff --git a/libqpdf.map.in b/libqpdf.map.in
index 68ab12cb..9d4e8b9e 100644
--- a/libqpdf.map.in
+++ b/libqpdf.map.in
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-LIBQPDF_@LT_CURRENT@ {
+LIBQPDF_@LT_SONAME@ {
   global:
     *;
 };