diff --git a/vhost_user_block/Cargo.toml b/vhost_user_block/Cargo.toml
index 32546e7ce..98453f84a 100644
--- a/vhost_user_block/Cargo.toml
+++ b/vhost_user_block/Cargo.toml
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ name = "vhost_user_block"
 version = "0.1.0"
 authors = ["The Cloud Hypervisor Authors"]
 edition = "2021"
+build = "../build.rs"
 
 [dependencies]
 argh = "0.1.9"
diff --git a/vhost_user_block/src/main.rs b/vhost_user_block/src/main.rs
index 2e3885683..14c88e186 100644
--- a/vhost_user_block/src/main.rs
+++ b/vhost_user_block/src/main.rs
@@ -19,7 +19,11 @@ struct TopLevel {
     #[argh(option, long = "block-backend")]
     /// vhost-user-block backend parameters
     /// path=<image_path>,socket=<socket_path>,num_queues=<number_of_queues>,queue_size=<size_of_each_queue>,readonly=true|false,direct=true|false,poll_queue=true|false
-    backend_command: String,
+    backend_command: Option<String>,
+
+    #[argh(switch, short = 'V', long = "version")]
+    /// print version information
+    version: bool,
 }
 
 fn main() {
@@ -27,5 +31,15 @@ fn main() {
 
     let toplevel: TopLevel = argh::from_env();
 
-    start_block_backend(&toplevel.backend_command);
+    if toplevel.version {
+        println!("{} {}", env!("CARGO_BIN_NAME"), env!("BUILT_VERSION"));
+        return;
+    }
+
+    if toplevel.backend_command.is_none() {
+        println!("Please specify --block-backend");
+        std::process::exit(1)
+    }
+
+    start_block_backend(&toplevel.backend_command.unwrap());
 }