diff --git a/em++ b/em++
index 1663dd06e..5dd860f24 100755
--- a/em++
+++ b/em++
@@ -5,13 +5,8 @@ See emcc.py. This script forwards to there, noting that we want C++ and not C by
 '''
 
 import os, sys
+from tools import shared
 
-__rootpath__ = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__))
-def path_from_root(*pathelems):
-  return os.path.join(__rootpath__, *pathelems)
-exec(open(path_from_root('tools', 'shared.py'), 'r').read())
-
-emmaken = path_from_root('tools', 'emmaken.py')
 os.environ['EMMAKEN_CXX'] = '1'
-exit(os.execvp('python', ['python', emmaken] + sys.argv[1:]))
+exit(os.execvp(shared.EMCC, [shared.EMCC] + sys.argv[1:]))
 
diff --git a/emcc b/emcc
index 33a6311c2..1494f2bbb 100755
--- a/emcc
+++ b/emcc
@@ -95,25 +95,28 @@ emcc can be influenced by a few environment variables:
 import sys
 import os
 import subprocess
+from tools import shared
 
 DEBUG = 0
 
 ################### XXX
-print >> sys.stderr, '***This is a WORK IN PROGRESS***'
+print >> sys.stderr, '\n***This is a WORK IN PROGRESS***'
+print >> sys.stderr, '***[%s]***\n' % str(sys.argv)
 ################### XXX
 
 if DEBUG: print >> sys.stderr, 'emcc.py: ', ' '.join(sys.argv)
 
-__rootpath__ = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(__file__)))
-def path_from_root(*pathelems):
-  return os.path.join(__rootpath__, *pathelems)
-exec(open(path_from_root('tools', 'shared.py'), 'r').read())
-
 # Handle some global flags
+
+if len(sys.argv) == 1:
+  print 'emcc: no input files'
+  exit(0)
+
 if sys.argv[1] == '--version':
-  print '''emcc 2.X
-This is drop-in compiler replacement for Emscripten
-http://emscripten.org
+  print '''emcc (Emscripten GCC-like replacement) 2.0
+Copyright (C) 2011 the Emscripten authors.
+This is free and open source software under the MIT license.
+There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
   '''
   exit(0)
 elif sys.argv[1] == '--help':
diff --git a/tests/runner.py b/tests/runner.py
index cdb2309b9..34f76e705 100644
--- a/tests/runner.py
+++ b/tests/runner.py
@@ -4868,7 +4868,15 @@ TT = %s
 
   class other(RunnerCore):
     def test_emcc(self):
-      pass
+      for compiler in [EMCC, EMXX]:
+        # --version
+        output = Popen([compiler, '--version'], stdout=PIPE, stderr=PIPE).communicate(input)[0]
+        self.assertContained('''emcc (Emscripten GCC-like replacement) 2.0
+Copyright (C) 2011 the Emscripten authors.
+This is free and open source software under the MIT license.
+There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
+''', output)
+
       # TODO: make sure all of these match gcc
       # TODO: when this is done, more test runner to test these (i.e., test all -Ox thoroughly)
       # -- options: check these, warn about errors. valid gcc ones are help, version. Ours should be -- too, not -.
diff --git a/tools/shared.py b/tools/shared.py
index 0aead08a8..5c5da098a 100644
--- a/tools/shared.py
+++ b/tools/shared.py
@@ -26,6 +26,8 @@ COFFEESCRIPT = path_from_root('tools', 'eliminator', 'node_modules', 'coffee-scr
 EMSCRIPTEN = path_from_root('emscripten.py')
 DEMANGLER = path_from_root('third_party', 'demangler.py')
 NAMESPACER = path_from_root('tools', 'namespacer.py')
+EMCC = path_from_root('emcc')
+EMXX = path_from_root('em++')
 EMMAKEN = path_from_root('tools', 'emmaken.py')
 AUTODEBUGGER = path_from_root('tools', 'autodebugger.py')
 DFE = path_from_root('tools', 'dead_function_eliminator.py')