diff --git a/src/spek.vala b/src/spek.vala
index 8d1c4b0..f426691 100644
--- a/src/spek.vala
+++ b/src/spek.vala
@@ -18,12 +18,32 @@
 
 using Spek;
 
+bool version = false;
+// TODO: move into main() when bgo#530623 is fixed.
+const OptionEntry[] options = {
+	{ "version", 'V', 0, OptionArg.NONE, &version, N_("Display the version and exit"), null },
+	{ null }
+};
+
 int main (string[] args) {
 	Intl.bindtextdomain (Config.GETTEXT_PACKAGE, Config.LOCALEDIR);
 	Intl.bind_textdomain_codeset (Config.GETTEXT_PACKAGE, "UTF-8");
 	Intl.textdomain (Config.GETTEXT_PACKAGE);
 
-	Gtk.init (ref args);
+	try {
+		Gtk.init_with_args (ref args, _("[FILE]"), (OptionEntry[]) options, Config.GETTEXT_PACKAGE);
+	} catch (Error e) {
+		print (e.message);
+		print ("\n");
+		print (_("Run `%s --help` to see a full list of available command line options.\n"), args[0]);
+		return 1;
+	}
+
+	if (version) {
+		print (_("%s version %s\n"), Config.PACKAGE_NAME, Config.PACKAGE_VERSION);
+		return 0;
+	}
+
 	Gst.init (ref args);
 	var window = new Window ();
 	Gtk.main ();