diff --git a/src/config/Config.h b/src/config/Config.h
index 1f2b94f4b017299e0d877fd1efced590c5638ccb..414d3f96f14deebfccd3aaf38aab71e5652ad08a 100644
--- a/src/config/Config.h
+++ b/src/config/Config.h
@@ -85,6 +85,14 @@ std::string getVersionLong();
 /// E.g. "c5badb091cd30"
 std::string getVersionGit();
 
+/// Return the day PLUMED was compiled.
+/// E.g. "Apr 16 2018"
+std::string getCompilationDate();
+
+/// Return the time at which PLUMED was compiled.
+/// E.g. "13:27:58"
+std::string getCompilationTime();
+
 bool hasMatheval();
 
 bool hasDlopen();
diff --git a/src/config/Config.inc.in b/src/config/Config.inc.in
index 6ffce32155c2a9f1d8a9851ae7095d8a2ee22d6b..aceda6358bca751af34ca4f0b90ebfa557786967 100644
--- a/src/config/Config.inc.in
+++ b/src/config/Config.inc.in
@@ -167,6 +167,15 @@ bool hasXdrfile() {
 #endif
 }
 
+std::string getCompilationDate() {
+  return __DATE__;
+}
+
+std::string getCompilationTime() {
+  return __TIME__;
+}
+
+
 }
 }
 
diff --git a/src/core/PlumedMain.cpp b/src/core/PlumedMain.cpp
index 44c22f6c8a39d494cda3a0d6ecb67c5cec9eb23e..ee7740b29d93bced5a9dce11fdd652f6ceda16af 100644
--- a/src/core/PlumedMain.cpp
+++ b/src/core/PlumedMain.cpp
@@ -485,7 +485,8 @@ void PlumedMain::init() {
   atoms.init();
   if(!log.isOpen()) log.link(stdout);
   log<<"PLUMED is starting\n";
-  log<<"Version: "<<config::getVersionLong()<<" (git: "<<config::getVersionGit()<<") compiled on " __DATE__ " at " __TIME__ "\n";
+  log<<"Version: "<<config::getVersionLong()<<" (git: "<<config::getVersionGit()<<") "
+     <<"compiled on " <<config::getCompilationDate() << " at " << config::getCompilationTime() << "\n";
   log<<"Please cite this paper when using PLUMED ";
   log<<cite("Tribello, Bonomi, Branduardi, Camilloni, and Bussi, Comput. Phys. Commun. 185, 604 (2014)");
   log<<"\n";