A method of storing version and product information of libraries used in the building of an executable file. For each library, a source file containing the version and product information is constructed, compiled and the resulting version object file is stored in the library. When the build of an executable occurs, the version object file for each of the libraries needed for the build is obtained and stored in a temporary area. A list is made of the names of the stored version object files and, when the executable is compiled, the list is submitted to the compiler command so that the version object files of each library are compiled into the executable file. In one alternative, a compound library formed from a selected set of libraries can be compiled into the executable. A utility program can be used to retrieve the stored version and product information in the executable.