diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 16f607c0..e5722ad7 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -2,15 +2,47 @@ cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.8.6)
 project(toxcore)
 include(CTest)
 
+set(CMAKE_MODULE_PATH ${toxcore_SOURCE_DIR}/cmake)
+
+################################################################################
+#
+# :: Version management
+#
+################################################################################
+
 # This version is for the entire project. All libraries (core, av, ...) move in
 # versions in a synchronised way.
 set(PROJECT_VERSION_MAJOR "0")
 set(PROJECT_VERSION_MINOR "1")
 set(PROJECT_VERSION_PATCH "4")
-set(PROJECT_VERSION
-  "${PROJECT_VERSION_MAJOR}.${PROJECT_VERSION_MINOR}.${PROJECT_VERSION_PATCH}")
+set(PROJECT_VERSION "${PROJECT_VERSION_MAJOR}.${PROJECT_VERSION_MINOR}.${PROJECT_VERSION_PATCH}")
+
+# Update versions in various places
+# This must be run before setting SOVERSION, because SOVERSION is read from
+# a file generated by this script
+find_program(SHELL NAMES sh dash bash zsh)
+if(SHELL)
+  execute_process(
+      COMMAND ${SHELL} ${toxcore_SOURCE_DIR}/other/version-sync
+      ${toxcore_SOURCE_DIR}
+      ${PROJECT_VERSION_MAJOR}
+      ${PROJECT_VERSION_MINOR}
+      ${PROJECT_VERSION_PATCH})
+endif()
+
+# set .so library version / following libtool scheme
+# https://www.gnu.org/software/libtool/manual/libtool.html#Updating-version-info
+file(STRINGS ${toxcore_SOURCE_DIR}/so.version SOVERSION_CURRENT REGEX "^CURRENT=[0-9]+$")
+string(SUBSTRING "${SOVERSION_CURRENT}" 8 -1 SOVERSION_CURRENT)
+file(STRINGS ${toxcore_SOURCE_DIR}/so.version SOVERSION_REVISION REGEX "^REVISION=[0-9]+$")
+string(SUBSTRING "${SOVERSION_REVISION}" 9 -1 SOVERSION_REVISION)
+file(STRINGS ${toxcore_SOURCE_DIR}/so.version SOVERSION_AGE REGEX "^AGE=[0-9]+$")
+string(SUBSTRING "${SOVERSION_AGE}" 4 -1 SOVERSION_AGE)
+# account for some libtool magic, see other/version-sync script for details
+math(EXPR SOVERSION_MAJOR ${SOVERSION_CURRENT}-${SOVERSION_AGE})
+set(SOVERSION "${SOVERSION_MAJOR}.${SOVERSION_AGE}.${SOVERSION_REVISION}")
+message("SOVERSION: ${SOVERSION}")
 
-set(CMAKE_MODULE_PATH ${toxcore_SOURCE_DIR}/cmake)
 
 ################################################################################
 #
@@ -591,23 +623,6 @@ if(BUILD_TOXAV)
     DESTINATION "include/tox")
 endif()
 
-################################################################################
-#
-# :: Update versions in various places
-#
-################################################################################
-
-find_program(SHELL NAMES sh dash bash zsh)
-
-if(SHELL)
-  execute_process(
-    COMMAND ${SHELL} ${toxcore_SOURCE_DIR}/other/version-sync
-      ${toxcore_SOURCE_DIR}
-      ${PROJECT_VERSION_MAJOR}
-      ${PROJECT_VERSION_MINOR}
-      ${PROJECT_VERSION_PATCH})
-endif()
-
 ################################################################################
 #
 # :: Strict ABI
diff --git a/cmake/ModulePackage.cmake b/cmake/ModulePackage.cmake
index f6e7e31a..38f841ba 100644
--- a/cmake/ModulePackage.cmake
+++ b/cmake/ModulePackage.cmake
@@ -56,10 +56,8 @@ function(add_module lib)
     add_library(${lib}_shared SHARED ${ARGN})
     set_target_properties(${lib}_shared PROPERTIES
       OUTPUT_NAME ${lib}
-      VERSION ${PROJECT_VERSION}
-      # While on 0.x, the x behaves like the major version. 0.2 will be
-      # incompatible with 0.1. Change this, when releasing 1.0!
-      SOVERSION ${PROJECT_VERSION_MAJOR}.${PROJECT_VERSION_MINOR}
+      VERSION ${SOVERSION}
+      SOVERSION ${SOVERSION_MAJOR}
     )
     install(TARGETS ${lib}_shared DESTINATION "lib")
   endif()
diff --git a/other/version-sync b/other/version-sync
index 3fb1aa80..fdfe91d9 100755
--- a/other/version-sync
+++ b/other/version-sync
@@ -17,7 +17,9 @@ update() {
   if diff "$file" "$file.updated-version"; then
     rm "$file.updated-version"
   else
-    mv "$file.updated-version" "$file"
+    # use cat > and rm instead of move to keep file permissions
+    cat "$file.updated-version" > "$file"
+    rm "$file.updated-version"
   fi
 }
 
@@ -26,3 +28,99 @@ update 'configure.ac' 's/AC_INIT(\[tox\], \[.*\])/AC_INIT([tox], ['$VER'])/'
 update 'toxcore/tox.api.h' 's/\(const VERSION_MAJOR *= \).*;/\1'$MAJOR';/'
 update 'toxcore/tox.api.h' 's/\(const VERSION_MINOR *= \).*;/\1'$MINOR';/'
 update 'toxcore/tox.api.h' 's/\(const VERSION_PATCH *= \).*;/\1'$PATCH';/'
+
+#
+# calculating the SO version
+#
+# The SO version reflects changes in the ABI compatibility of the libary [1].
+# The general convention on this is that the SO version is a monotonically
+# increasing number. The major version reflects breaking changes and the minor
+# number reflect non-breaking updates [2].
+#
+# The SO version for tox libraries consists of two parts: `A.B`.
+# - incrementing A reflects an ABI breaking change.
+# - incrementing B reflects a non-ABI-breaking update. B is set to 0 when A is incremented.
+#
+# As the tox versioning scheme directly reflects ABI compatibility, we can use it
+# to construct the SO version.
+#
+# In the `0.y.z` release cycle, breaking changes are allowed in every increment of `y`,
+# so we can build the SO version just by taking `y.z`.
+# In the `x.y.z` release cycle with `x > 0` the SO version must be calculated by taking
+# the major of the tox version and add a hardcoded number that is the last A of the 0.y.z
+# release cycle.
+#
+# References:
+#
+# [1]: https://autotools.io/libtool/version.html
+# [2]: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-shlibs/index.html#N1006E
+#
+
+# the last major version number from the 0.x release cycle
+# this must be constant starting from the 1.0 release
+LAST_SOMAJOR=1
+
+if [ $MAJOR -eq 0 ]; then
+    SOMAJOR=$MINOR
+    SOMINOR=$PATCH
+
+    # update lastmajor above
+    update 'other/version-sync' 's/^\(LAST_SOMAJOR=\).*/\1'$SOMAJOR'/'
+else
+    SOMAJOR=$(expr $MAJOR + $LAST_SOMAJOR)
+    SOMINOR=$MINOR
+fi
+
+#
+# libtool has a quite cryptic implementation of the versioning system, which also
+# changes between systems, see https://github.com/lxde/lxqt/issues/488#issuecomment-238084222
+#
+# .so library version, following the libtool scheme:
+#
+#            current:revision:age
+#
+# current:  increment if interfaces have been added, removed or changed
+# revision: increment if source code has changed, set to zero if current is
+#           incremented
+# age:      increment if interfaces have been added, set to zero if
+#           interfaces have been removed or changed
+#
+# For a full reference see:
+# https://www.gnu.org/software/libtool/manual/libtool.html#Updating-version-info
+#
+# Passing such a version string to libtool will generate the following version number
+# on the libary binary file on GNU/Linux:
+#
+# (current - age).(age).(revision)
+#
+# We do not want to use a separate version numbering for the library because the package versioning is equally good:
+#
+# Semver non-breaking: 0.y.(z+1) or x.(y+1).0:
+#
+# This would mean to increment current and age, which leave the major of SOVERSION the same.
+# Revision is incremented.
+#
+# Semver breaking: 0.(y+1).0 or (x+1).0.0:
+#
+# This would mean to increment current, set age and revision to zero.
+#
+# Thus to make libtool use our version, we have to pass (major + minor):patch:minor as current:revision:age to get:
+#
+#     (current - age).(age).(revision)
+# <=> (major + minor - minor).minor.patch
+# <=> major.minor.patch
+#
+
+if [ $MAJOR -eq 0 ]; then
+    LIBTOOL_CURRENT=$(expr $SOMAJOR + $SOMINOR)
+    LIBTOOL_AGE=$SOMINOR
+    LIBTOOL_REVISION=0
+else
+    LIBTOOL_CURRENT=$(expr $SOMAJOR + $SOMINOR)
+    LIBTOOL_AGE=$SOMINOR
+    LIBTOOL_REVISION=$PATCH
+fi
+
+update 'so.version' 's/^\(CURRENT=\).*/\1'$LIBTOOL_CURRENT'/'
+update 'so.version' 's/^\(AGE=\).*/\1'$LIBTOOL_AGE'/'
+update 'so.version' 's/^\(REVISION=\).*/\1'$LIBTOOL_REVISION'/'