diff --git a/lib/activitystreamjsondocument.php b/lib/activitystreamjsondocument.php
index 9964f1e60c..ed3197bc7f 100644
--- a/lib/activitystreamjsondocument.php
+++ b/lib/activitystreamjsondocument.php
@@ -165,7 +165,7 @@ class ActivityStreamJSONDocument extends JSONActivityCollection
      */
     function asString()
     {
-        $this->doc['generator'] = 'StatusNet ' . STATUSNET_VERSION; // extension
+        $this->doc['generator'] = 'GNU social ' . GNUSOCIAL_VERSION; // extension
         $this->doc['title'] = $this->title;
         $this->doc['url']   = $this->url;
         $this->doc['totalItems'] = $this->count;
diff --git a/lib/httpclient.php b/lib/httpclient.php
index 0c249a518f..c7abe12116 100644
--- a/lib/httpclient.php
+++ b/lib/httpclient.php
@@ -158,7 +158,7 @@ class HTTPClient extends HTTP_Request2
         }
 
         parent::__construct($url, $method, $config);
-        $this->setHeader('User-Agent', $this->userAgent());
+        $this->setHeader('User-Agent', self::userAgent());
     }
 
     /**
@@ -247,9 +247,10 @@ class HTTPClient extends HTTP_Request2
      *
      * @return string
      */
-    function userAgent()
+    static public function userAgent()
     {
-        return "GNU Social/".GNUSOCIAL_VERSION." (".GNUSOCIAL_CODENAME.")";
+        return GNUSOCIAL_ENGINE . '/' . GNUSOCIAL_VERSION
+                . ' (' . GNUSOCIAL_CODENAME . ')';
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/lib/ping.php b/lib/ping.php
index 4d370593cc..14639d76d2 100644
--- a/lib/ping.php
+++ b/lib/ping.php
@@ -90,11 +90,11 @@ function ping_broadcast_notice($notice) {
 
             if ($type === 'get') {
                 $result = $fetcher->get($notify_url . '?' . http_build_query($args),
-                                        array('User-Agent: StatusNet/'.STATUSNET_VERSION));
+                                        array('User-Agent: ' . HTTPClient::userAgent()));
             } else {
                 $result = $fetcher->post($notify_url,
                                          http_build_query($args),
-                                         array('User-Agent: StatusNet/'.STATUSNET_VERSION));
+                                         array('User-Agent: ' . HTTPClient::userAgent()));
             }
             if ($result->status != '200') {
                 common_log(LOG_WARNING,
diff --git a/lib/plugin.php b/lib/plugin.php
index 80a3e96207..605a4d12b5 100644
--- a/lib/plugin.php
+++ b/lib/plugin.php
@@ -158,12 +158,22 @@ class Plugin
         $this->log(LOG_DEBUG, $msg);
     }
     
-    function name()
+    public function name()
     {
         $cls = get_class($this);
         return mb_substr($cls, 0, -6);
     }
 
+    public function version()
+    {
+        return GNUSOCIAL_VERSION;
+    }
+
+    protected function userAgent() {
+        return HTTPClient::userAgent()
+                . ' (' . get_class($this) . ' v' . $this->version() . ')';
+    }
+
     function onPluginVersion(&$versions)
     {
         $name = $this->name();
diff --git a/plugins/BlogspamNet/BlogspamNetPlugin.php b/plugins/BlogspamNet/BlogspamNetPlugin.php
index edb9406d9a..f4de0d6c88 100644
--- a/plugins/BlogspamNet/BlogspamNetPlugin.php
+++ b/plugins/BlogspamNet/BlogspamNetPlugin.php
@@ -143,9 +143,9 @@ class BlogspamNetPlugin extends Plugin
         return '127.0.0.1';
     }
 
-    function userAgent()
+    function version()
     {
-        return 'BlogspamNetPlugin/'.BLOGSPAMNETPLUGIN_VERSION . ' StatusNet/' . STATUSNET_VERSION;
+        return BLOGSPAMNETPLUGIN_VERSION;
     }
 
     function onPluginVersion(&$versions)
diff --git a/plugins/Linkback/LinkbackPlugin.php b/plugins/Linkback/LinkbackPlugin.php
index 5cc4aadb05..337cfdedfa 100644
--- a/plugins/Linkback/LinkbackPlugin.php
+++ b/plugins/Linkback/LinkbackPlugin.php
@@ -227,10 +227,9 @@ class LinkbackPlugin extends Plugin
         }
     }
 
-    function userAgent()
+    public function version()
     {
-        return 'LinkbackPlugin/'.LINKBACKPLUGIN_VERSION .
-          ' StatusNet/' . STATUSNET_VERSION;
+        return LINKBACKPLUGIN_VERSION;
     }
 
     function onPluginVersion(&$versions)
diff --git a/plugins/Spotify/SpotifyPlugin.php b/plugins/Spotify/SpotifyPlugin.php
index 6d4e645629..5877694e0f 100644
--- a/plugins/Spotify/SpotifyPlugin.php
+++ b/plugins/Spotify/SpotifyPlugin.php
@@ -67,12 +67,6 @@ class SpotifyPlugin extends Plugin
         return true;
     }
 
-    function userAgent()
-    {
-        return 'SpotifyPlugin/'.SPOTIFYPLUGIN_VERSION .
-               ' StatusNet/' . STATUSNET_VERSION;
-    }
-
     function onPluginVersion(&$versions)
     {
         $versions[] = array('name' => 'Spotify',
diff --git a/plugins/TwitterBridge/lib/jsonstreamreader.php b/plugins/TwitterBridge/lib/jsonstreamreader.php
index d5852c93e3..f6ec1f3f50 100644
--- a/plugins/TwitterBridge/lib/jsonstreamreader.php
+++ b/plugins/TwitterBridge/lib/jsonstreamreader.php
@@ -129,7 +129,7 @@ abstract class JsonStreamReader
         $lines = array(
             "GET $path HTTP/1.1",
             "Host: $host",
-            "User-Agent: StatusNet/" . STATUSNET_VERSION . " (TwitterBridgePlugin)",
+            'User-Agent: ' . HTTPClient::userAgent() . ' (TwitterBridgePlugin)',
             "Connection: close",
             "",
             ""