diff --git a/hdf5.changes b/hdf5.changes
index 7ffd329..05c6860 100644
--- a/hdf5.changes
+++ b/hdf5.changes
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+-------------------------------------------------------------------
+Thu Aug  6 21:53:07 UTC 2015 - toddrme2178@gmail.com
+
+- SLES 11 apparently has problems with numbers in macros, so
+  provide a no-number version.
+
 -------------------------------------------------------------------
 Mon Jul 27 11:11:12 UTC 2015 - toddrme2178@gmail.com
 
diff --git a/hdf5.spec b/hdf5.spec
index f10ca3c..e188abd 100644
--- a/hdf5.spec
+++ b/hdf5.spec
@@ -608,6 +608,7 @@ rm -rf %{buildroot}%{_libdir}/mpi/gcc/*/share/hdf5_examples
 %endif
 
 # rpm macro for version checking
+# SLES 11 doesn't like numbers in macros, apparently
 mkdir -p %{buildroot}%{_sysconfdir}/rpm
 cat > %{buildroot}%{_sysconfdir}/rpm/macros.hdf5 <<EOF
 #
@@ -615,6 +616,8 @@ cat > %{buildroot}%{_sysconfdir}/rpm/macros.hdf5 <<EOF
 #
 %_hdf5_sonum  %{sonum}
 %_hdf5_version  %{version}
+%_hdffive_sonum  %{sonum}
+%_hdffive_version  %{version}
 EOF
 
 %check