diff --git a/show-pom-version.rb b/show-pom-version.rb
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..919e6e524e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/show-pom-version.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+#!/usr/bin/ruby
+# parse POM from stdin and prints the version number
+require "rexml/document"
+require "rexml/xpath"
+
+pom = REXML::Document.new $stdin
+# if the POM doesn't define the version by itself, it's inherited from the parent
+puts (pom.elements["/project/version"] || pom.elements["/project/parent/version"]).text