fi
 
 SPATCH_VERSION=$($SPATCH --version | head -1 | awk '{print $3}')
-SPATCH_VERSION_NUM=$(echo $SPATCH_VERSION | ${DIR}/scripts/ld-version.sh)
 
 USE_JOBS="no"
 $SPATCH --help | grep "\-\-jobs" > /dev/null && USE_JOBS="yes"
 
     OPT=`grep "Options:" $COCCI | cut -d':' -f2`
     REQ=`grep "Requires:" $COCCI | cut -d':' -f2 | sed "s| ||"`
-    REQ_NUM=$(echo $REQ | ${DIR}/scripts/ld-version.sh)
-    if [ "$REQ_NUM" != "0" ] ; then
-           if [ "$SPATCH_VERSION_NUM" -lt "$REQ_NUM" ] ; then
-                   echo "Skipping coccinelle SmPL patch: $COCCI"
-                   echo "You have coccinelle:           $SPATCH_VERSION"
-                   echo "This SmPL patch requires:      $REQ"
-                   return
-           fi
+    if [ -n "$REQ" ] && ! { echo "$REQ"; echo "$SPATCH_VERSION"; } | sort -CV ; then
+           echo "Skipping coccinelle SmPL patch: $COCCI"
+           echo "You have coccinelle:           $SPATCH_VERSION"
+           echo "This SmPL patch requires:      $REQ"
+           return
     fi
 
 #   The option '--parse-cocci' can be used to syntactically check the SmPL files.
 
        exit 1
 fi
 
-SPATCH_REQ_VERSION_NUM=$(echo $SPATCH_REQ_VERSION | ${DIR}/scripts/ld-version.sh)
 SPATCH_VERSION=$($SPATCH --version | head -1 | awk '{print $3}')
-SPATCH_VERSION_NUM=$(echo $SPATCH_VERSION | ${DIR}/scripts/ld-version.sh)
 
-if [ "$SPATCH_VERSION_NUM" -lt "$SPATCH_REQ_VERSION_NUM" ] ; then
+if ! { echo "$SPATCH_REQ_VERSION"; echo "$SPATCH_VERSION"; } | sort -CV ; then
        echo "spatch needs to be version $SPATCH_REQ_VERSION or higher"
        exit 1
 fi