diff --git a/update.py b/update.py
index 891cc90..1d39122 100644
--- a/update.py
+++ b/update.py
@@ -180,22 +180,16 @@ def gen_setup(config, relative_path):
 # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
-def gen_cmakelists(config, relative_path, modules):
+def gen_cmakelists(project_name, minimum_required_version, relative_path, modules):
     """
     Generate CMakeLists.txt.
     """
-    if not config.has_option('project', 'name'):
-        sys.stderr.write("ERROR: you have to specify the project name\n")
-        sys.stderr.write("       in autocmake.cfg under [project]\n")
-        sys.exit(-1)
-    project_name = config.get('project', 'name')
-
     s = []
 
     s.append(autogenerated_notice())
 
     s.append('\n# set minimum cmake version')
-    s.append('cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.8 FATAL_ERROR)')
+    s.append('cmake_minimum_required(VERSION %s FATAL_ERROR)' % minimum_required_version)
 
     s.append('\n# project name')
     s.append('project(%s)' % project_name)
@@ -355,6 +349,18 @@ def main(argv):
     config = RawConfigParser(dict_type=OrderedDict)
     config.read('autocmake.cfg')
 
+    if not config.has_option('project', 'name'):
+        sys.stderr.write("ERROR: you have to specify the project name\n")
+        sys.stderr.write("       in autocmake.cfg under [project]\n")
+        sys.exit(-1)
+    project_name = config.get('project', 'name')
+
+    if not config.has_option('project', 'minimum_required_version'):
+        sys.stderr.write("ERROR: you have to specify the minimum_required_version for CMake\n")
+        sys.stderr.write("       in autocmake.cfg under [project]\n")
+        sys.exit(-1)
+    minimum_required_version = config.get('project', 'minimum_required_version')
+
     # get relative path from setup.py script to this directory
     relative_path = os.path.relpath(os.path.abspath('.'), project_root)
 
@@ -363,7 +369,7 @@ def main(argv):
 
     # create CMakeLists.txt
     print('- generating CMakeLists.txt')
-    s = gen_cmakelists(config, relative_path, modules)
+    s = gen_cmakelists(project_name, minimum_required_version, relative_path, modules)
     with open(os.path.join(project_root, 'CMakeLists.txt'), 'w') as f:
         f.write('%s\n' % '\n'.join(s))