diff --git a/common-tools/clas-utils/src/main/java/org/jlab/utils/options/OptionParser.java b/common-tools/clas-utils/src/main/java/org/jlab/utils/options/OptionParser.java
index bda8f48d4a..77a8fed72f 100644
--- a/common-tools/clas-utils/src/main/java/org/jlab/utils/options/OptionParser.java
+++ b/common-tools/clas-utils/src/main/java/org/jlab/utils/options/OptionParser.java
@@ -2,8 +2,10 @@
 
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Arrays;
+import java.util.HashSet;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.Properties;
 import java.util.Set;
 import java.util.TreeMap;
 import java.util.logging.Level;
@@ -18,12 +20,12 @@ public class OptionParser {
     private Map<String,OptionValue> optionsDescriptors = new TreeMap<>();    
     private Map<String,OptionValue>    requiredOptions = new TreeMap<>();
     private Map<String,OptionValue>      parsedOptions = new TreeMap<>();
+    private Set<String>               overridenOptions = new HashSet<>();
     private List<String>               parsedInputList = new ArrayList<>();
     private String                             program = "undefined";
     private boolean                  requiresInputList = true;
     private String                  programDescription = "";
-    private boolean                  overrideVerbosity = false;
-
+    
     public OptionParser(){
         init();
     }
@@ -34,9 +36,11 @@ public OptionParser(String pname){
     }
    
     private void init() {
-        addOption("-v","FINE","logging verbosity level");
+        addOption("-l","FINE","logging verbosity level");
+        addOption("-v",null,"print version");
+        addOption("-h",null,"print help");
     }
-  
+
     public void setDescription(String desc){
         this.programDescription = desc;
     }
@@ -53,7 +57,7 @@ public void addRequired(String key){
     private void check(String key, Set<String> keys) {
         if (keys.contains(key)) {
             System.out.println("WARNING: overriding OptionParser option:  "+key);
-            if (key.equals("-v")) overrideVerbosity = true;
+            overridenOptions.add(key);
         }
     }
     
@@ -130,17 +134,21 @@ public void printUsage(){
         System.out.println(this.getUsageString());
         System.out.println("\n\n");
     }
-    
-    public void parse(String[] args){
+   
+    public void parse(String... args) {
 
         List<String> arguments = new ArrayList<>();
         arguments.addAll(Arrays.asList(args));
 
-        // Default, non-overridable, help option:
-        if(this.containsOptions(arguments, "-h","-help")==true){
+        // Default, non-overridable, options:
+        if(this.containsOptions(arguments,"-h","-help")==true){
             this.printUsage();
             System.exit(0);
         }
+        else if(this.containsOptions(arguments,"-v","-version")==true){
+            System.out.println(getVersion());
+            System.exit(0);
+        }
 
         // Parse required options:
         for(Map.Entry<String,OptionValue> entry : this.requiredOptions.entrySet()){
@@ -173,8 +181,8 @@ public void parse(String[] args){
         }
 
         // Configure logger:
-        if (!overrideVerbosity) {
-            setVerbosity(this.parsedOptions.get("-v").stringValue());
+        if (!overridenOptions.contains("-l")) {
+            setVerbosity(this.parsedOptions.get("-l").stringValue());
         }
     }
 
@@ -183,11 +191,11 @@ private void setVerbosity(String level) {
             DefaultLogger.initialize(Level.parse(level));
         }
         catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
-            System.err.println("Invalid -v java.util.logging.Level:  "+level);
+            System.err.println("Invalid -l java.util.logging.Level:  "+level);
             System.exit(102);
         }
         catch (NullPointerException e) {
-            System.err.println("Unavailable -v COATJAVA logging level:  "+level);
+            System.err.println("Unavailable -l COATJAVA logging level:  "+level);
             System.exit(103);
         }
     }
@@ -195,6 +203,16 @@ private void setVerbosity(String level) {
     public List<String> getInputList(){
         return this.parsedInputList;
     }
+   
+    public static String getVersion(){
+        try {
+            Properties p = new Properties();
+            p.load(OptionParser.class.getResourceAsStream("/pom.properties"));
+            return String.format("coatjava version %s",p.getProperty("version"));
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            return "coatjava version ???";
+        }
+    }
     
     public static void main(String[] args){
         OptionParser parser = new OptionParser();
@@ -202,7 +220,11 @@ public static void main(String[] args){
         parser.addOption("-r", "10");
         parser.addOption("-t", "25.0");
         parser.addOption("-d", "35");
-        parser.parse(args);
+        parser.addOption("-h","helpless");
+        parser.addOption("-v","versionless");
+        if (args.length == 0) parser.parse("-o","out.dat","in.dat");
+        else parser.parse(args);
         parser.show();        
+        parser.parse("-h");
     }
 }
diff --git a/common-tools/coat-libs/pom.xml b/common-tools/coat-libs/pom.xml
index 494e10d55e..99d0f723c3 100644
--- a/common-tools/coat-libs/pom.xml
+++ b/common-tools/coat-libs/pom.xml
@@ -169,6 +169,17 @@
   </dependencies>
 
   <build>
+  
+    <resources>
+        <resource>
+            <directory>src/main/resources</directory>
+            <filtering>true</filtering>
+            <includes>
+                <include>**/pom.properties</include>
+            </includes>
+        </resource>
+    </resources>
+
     <plugins>
 
       <!-- create shaded coat-libs JAR -->
diff --git a/common-tools/coat-libs/src/main/resources/pom.properties b/common-tools/coat-libs/src/main/resources/pom.properties
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..130ea13e7a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/common-tools/coat-libs/src/main/resources/pom.properties
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+artifactId=${project.artifactId}
+groupId=${project.groupId}
+version=${project.version}