diff --git a/common/mpihelper.hh b/common/mpihelper.hh
index 51b0c38c8f41dc2bdb8ed53ba7a91b9d28ddac44..98f81b54bb552d784130fdbba999c8b0976571d1 100644
--- a/common/mpihelper.hh
+++ b/common/mpihelper.hh
@@ -199,6 +199,10 @@ namespace Dune
      */
     int size () const { return size_; }
 
+    void barrier() const {
+      MPI_Barrier(getCommunicator());
+    }
+
   private:
     int rank_;
     int size_;
@@ -215,7 +219,7 @@ namespace Dune
       assert( rank_ >= 0 );
       assert( size_ >= 1 );
 
-      dvverb << "Called  MPI_Init on p=" << rank_ << "!" << std::endl;
+      dverb << "Called  MPI_Init on p=" << rank_ << "!" << std::endl;
     }
     //! \brief calls MPI_Finalize
     ~MPIHelper()
diff --git a/common/version.hh b/common/version.hh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..26b41ae4b0183014483c16783985d3af612dcc3f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/common/version.hh
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+// -*- tab-width: 4; indent-tabs-mode: nil; c-basic-offset: 2 -*-
+// vi: set et ts=4 sw=2 sts=2:
+#ifndef DUNE_VERSION_HH
+#define DUNE_VERSION_HH
+
+#define DUNE_VERSION_JOIN(module,type) DUNE_ ## module ## _VERSION_ ## type
+
+#define DUNE_VERSION_EQUAL(module,major,minor) \
+  ((DUNE_VERSION_JOIN(module,MAJOR) == major) && \
+   (DUNE_VERSION_JOIN(module,MINOR) == minor))
+
+#define DUNE_VERSION_EQUAL_REV(module,major,minor,revision) \
+  ( DUNE_VERSION_EQUAL(module,major,minor) && \
+    (DUNE_VERSION_JOIN(module,REVISION) == revision))
+
+#define DUNE_VERSION_NEWER(module,major,minor,revision) \
+  ((DUNE_VERSION_JOIN(module,MAJOR) > major) \
+   || ((DUNE_VERSION_JOIN(module,MAJOR) == major) && (DUNE_VERSION_JOIN(module,MINOR) >= minor)))
+
+#define DUNE_VERSION_NEWER_REV(module,major,minor,revision) \
+  ((DUNE_VERSION_JOIN(module,MAJOR) > major) \
+   || ((DUNE_VERSION_JOIN(module,MAJOR) == major) && (DUNE_VERSION_JOIN(module,MINOR) > minor)) \
+   || ((DUNE_VERSION_JOIN(module,MAJOR) == major) && (DUNE_VERSION_JOIN(module,MINOR) == minor) \
+       && (DUNE_VERSION_JOIN(module,REVISION) >= revision)))
+
+#define DUNE_VERSION_ID(module) \
+  (unsigned int( \
+     (DUNE_VERSION_JOIN(module,MAJOR) << 24) + \
+     (DUNE_VERSION_JOIN(module,MINOR) << 16) + \
+     (DUNE_VERSION_JOIN(module,REVISION)) \
+     ))
+
+#endif