diff --git a/lib/configure.js b/lib/configure.js
index 3c09da0..15dc6e6 100644
--- a/lib/configure.js
+++ b/lib/configure.js
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ module.exports = exports = configure
 var fs = require('fs')
   , path = require('path')
   , glob = require('glob')
+  , nodeVersion = require('./util/node_version')
   , win = process.platform == 'win32'
 
 exports.usage = 'Generates ' + (win ? 'MSVC project files' : 'a Makefile') + ' for the current module'
@@ -20,11 +21,11 @@ function configure (gyp, argv, callback) {
 
   if (gyp.opts.target) {
     // if --target was given, then ensure that version is installed
-    version = parseFloat(gyp.opts.target)
+    version = nodeVersion.parse(gyp.opts.target)
     gyp.verbose('compiling against --target node version', version)
   } else {
     // if no --target was specified then use the current host node version
-    version = parseFloat(process.versions.node)
+    version = nodeVersion.parse(process.versions.node)
     gyp.verbose('no --target version specified, falling back to host node version', version)
   }
   gyp.opts.ensure = true
@@ -67,7 +68,7 @@ function configure (gyp, argv, callback) {
       , devDir = path.join(process.env.HOME, '.node-gyp', target)
       , gyp_addon = path.join(devDir, 'tools', 'gyp_addon')
 
-    if (win && version < 0.8) {
+    if (win && nodeVersion.lessThan(version, 0, 8)) {
       gyp.verbose('on Windows and target version is less than 0.8; applying #2685 patch')
       // if < 0.8, we need to manually apply the patch at joyent/node#2685,
       // since it got merged somewhere in 0.7.x.
@@ -76,7 +77,7 @@ function configure (gyp, argv, callback) {
       argv.push(path.join(devDir, 'tools', 'patch.gypi'))
     }
 
-    if (!win && version < 0.8) {
+    if (!win && nodeVersion.lessThan(version, 0, 8)) {
       gyp.verbose('on Unix and target version is less than 0.8; applying #2722 patch')
       argv.push('-I')
       argv.push(path.join(devDir, 'tools', 'patch2722.gypi'))
diff --git a/lib/install.js b/lib/install.js
index 9cedc2f..38c84f7 100644
--- a/lib/install.js
+++ b/lib/install.js
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ var fs = require('fs')
   , mkdir = require('mkdirp')
   , request = require('request')
   , minimatch = require('minimatch')
+  , nodeVersion = require('./util/node_version')
   , distUrl = 'http://nodejs.org/dist'
   , win = process.platform == 'win32'
   // a map for legacy releases:
@@ -36,12 +37,12 @@ function install (gyp, argv, callback) {
   }
 
 
-  var version = parseFloat(argv[0] || gyp.opts.target)
+  var version = nodeVersion.parse(argv[0] || gyp.opts.target)
 
-  if (isNaN(version)) {
+  if (!version) {
     return cb(new Error('You must specify a version to install (like "0.7")'))
   }
-  if (version < 0.6) {
+  if (nodeVersion.lessThan(version, 0, 6)) {
     return cb(new Error('Minimum target version is `0.6` or greater. Got: ' + version))
   }
 
@@ -79,7 +80,7 @@ function install (gyp, argv, callback) {
 
     // now download the node tarball
     // TODO: download the newest version instead of the .0 release
-    var tarballUrl = distUrl + '/v' + version.toFixed(1) + '.0/node-v' + version.toFixed(1) + '.0.tar.gz'
+    var tarballUrl = distUrl + '/v' + version + '.0/node-v' + version + '.0.tar.gz'
       , badDownload = false
       , parser = tar.Parse()
 
@@ -147,7 +148,7 @@ function install (gyp, argv, callback) {
       gyp.verbose('done parsing tarball')
       var async = 0
 
-      if (version < 0.7) {
+      if (nodeVersion.lessThan(version, 0, 7)) {
         // copy over gyp_addon, addon.gypi and common.gypi
         async++
         copyLegacy(deref)
@@ -159,12 +160,12 @@ function install (gyp, argv, callback) {
         downloadNodeLib(deref)
       }
 
-      if (win && version < 0.8) {
+      if (win && nodeVersion.lessThan(version, 0, 8)) {
         // before node 0.8 we need to manually link to node.lib
         async++
         copy2685(deref)
       }
-      if (!win && version < 0.8) {
+      if (!win && nodeVersion.lessThan(version, 0, 8)) {
         async++
         copy2722(deref)
       }
diff --git a/lib/remove.js b/lib/remove.js
index 64a4b67..e52fe50 100644
--- a/lib/remove.js
+++ b/lib/remove.js
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ exports.usage = 'Removes the node development files for the specified version'
 var fs = require('fs')
   , rm = require('rimraf')
   , path = require('path')
+  , nodeVersion = require('./util/node_version')
 
 function remove (gyp, argv, callback) {
 
@@ -18,8 +19,8 @@ function remove (gyp, argv, callback) {
 
   gyp.verbose('using node-gyp dir', nodeGypDir)
 
-  var version = parseFloat(argv[0] || gyp.opts.target)
-    , versionPath = path.join(nodeGypDir, version.toString())
+  var version = nodeVersion.parse(argv[0] || gyp.opts.target)
+    , versionPath = path.join(nodeGypDir, version)
 
   gyp.verbose('removing development files for version', version)
 
diff --git a/lib/util/node_version.js b/lib/util/node_version.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fb9b2f2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/util/node_version.js
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+
+/**
+ * Helper functions for parsing and testing node versions.
+ * Just plain `parseFloat` doesn't work in case there's ever a "x.10" release,
+ * which would be parsed as x.1 when represented as a Number.
+ */
+
+var regexp = /^(\d+)\.(\d+)/
+
+/**
+ * Accepts a String like "v0.10.4" and returns a String
+ * containing the major and minor versions ("0.10").
+ */
+
+exports.parse = function parse (str) {
+  str = String(str)
+  if (str[0] === 'v') {
+    str = str.substring(1)
+  }
+  return str.match(regexp)[0]
+}
+
+/**
+ * Accepts a major-minor version string (from `parseVersion`) and a major
+ * and minor Number value to test that the given version is less that the
+ * specified version. Returns true or false.
+ */
+
+exports.lessThan = function lessThan (ver, major, minor) {
+  var exec = regexp.exec(ver)
+    , inMaj = parseInt(exec[1])
+    , inMin = parseInt(exec[2])
+  if (inMaj > major) return false
+  return inMin < minor
+}