diff --git a/src/tools/gcc.jam b/src/tools/gcc.jam
index efe907827..800d3f2b2 100644
--- a/src/tools/gcc.jam
+++ b/src/tools/gcc.jam
@@ -81,10 +81,11 @@ rule init ( version ? : command * : options * )
         # The 'command' variable can have multiple elements. When calling
         # the SHELL builtin we need a single string.
         local command-string = $(command:J=" ") ;
-        local command-info = [ MATCH "^[^ ]+[ ]+[^ ]+[ ]+([^ ]+)[^(]*[(]?([^)]*)"
-            : [ SHELL "$(command-string) --version" ] ] ;
-        version ?= $(command-info[1]) ;
-        switch $(command-info[2]:L)
+        local machine = [ MATCH "^([^ ]+)"
+            : [ SHELL "$(command-string) -dumpmachine" ] ] ;
+        version ?= [ MATCH "^([0-9.]+)"
+            : [ SHELL "$(command-string) -dumpversion" ] ] ;
+        switch $(machine:L)
         {
             case *mingw* : flavor ?= mingw ;
         }