diff --git a/CMakeModules/Findngspice.cmake b/CMakeModules/Findngspice.cmake
index f8b01a9131..c88fd0a262 100644
--- a/CMakeModules/Findngspice.cmake
+++ b/CMakeModules/Findngspice.cmake
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 # CMake script for finding libngspice
 
 # Copyright (C) 2016 CERN
+# Copyright (C) 2020 Kicad Developers, see AUTHORS.txt for contributors.
+#
 # Author: Maciej Suminski <maciej.suminski@cern.ch>
 #
 # This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
@@ -20,17 +22,81 @@
 # or you may write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
 # 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA  02110-1301, USA
 
+# Usage:
+#
+# ngspice uses pkg-config to gather the configuration information so the pkg-config
+# information is used to populate the CMake find_* commands.  When pkg-config is not
+# available, the fallback is the default platform search paths set up by CMake.  The
+# default search paths can be overridden by user.  The order of precedence is as
+# follows:
+#
+# User defined root path NGSPICE_ROOT_DIR on CMake command line.
+# User defined root path environment variable NGSPICE_ROOT_DIR.
+# Paths generated by pkg-config.
+# The default system paths configured by CMake
+#
+# For a specific ngspice include path not defined above set NGSPICE_INCLUDE_PATH.
+#
+# For a specific ngspice library path not defined above set NGSPICE_LIBRARY_PATH.
+
+# Use pkg-config if it's available.
+find_package(PkgConfig)
+
+if( PKG_CONFIG_FOUND )
+    pkg_check_modules( _NGSPICE ngspice )
+
+    if( _NGSPICE_FOUND )
+        set( NGSPICE_BUILD_VERSION "${_NGSPICE_VERSION}" CACHE STRING
+             "ngspice version returned by pkg-config" )
+    endif()
+endif()
+
+
 find_path( NGSPICE_INCLUDE_DIR ngspice/sharedspice.h
-    PATHS ${NGSPICE_ROOT_DIR} $ENV{NGSPICE_ROOT_DIR} ${NGSPICE_INCLUDE_PATH}
-          ${NGSPICE_ROOT_DIR}/include
-    PATH_SUFFIXES src/include share/ngspice/include share/ngspice/include/ngspice
+    PATHS
+        ${NGSPICE_ROOT_DIR}
+        $ENV{NGSPICE_ROOT_DIR}
+        ${NGSPICE_INCLUDE_PATH}
+        ${_NGSPICE_INCLUDE_DIRS}
+    PATH_SUFFIXES
+        include
+        src/include
+        share/ngspice/include
+        share/ngspice/include/ngspice
 )
 
 find_library( NGSPICE_LIBRARY ngspice
-    PATHS ${NGSPICE_ROOT_DIR} $ENV{NGSPICE_ROOT_DIR} ${NGSPICE_LIBRARY_PATH}
-    PATH_SUFFIXES src/.libs lib
+    PATHS
+        ${NGSPICE_ROOT_DIR}
+        $ENV{NGSPICE_ROOT_DIR}
+        ${NGSPICE_LIBRARY_PATH}
+        ${_NGSPICE_LIBRARY_DIRS}
+    PATH_SUFFIXES
+        src/.libs
+        lib
 )
 
+# If the ngspice version is not set by pkg-config, see if ngspice/config.h is available.
+if( NOT NGSPICE_BUILD_VERSION )
+    find_file( NGSPICE_CONFIG_H ngspice/config.h
+        PATHS
+            ${NGSPICE_ROOT_DIR}
+            $ENV{NGSPICE_ROOT_DIR}
+            ${NGSPICE_INCLUDE_PATH}
+            ${_NGSPICE_INCLUDE_DIRS}
+        PATH_SUFFIXES
+            include
+            src/include
+            share/ngspice/include
+            share/ngspice/include/ngspice
+        )
+
+    if( NOT NGSPICE_CONFIG_H-NOTFOUND )
+        message( STATUS "ngspice configuration file ${NGSPICE_CONFIG_H} found." )
+        set( NGSPICE_HAVE_CONFIG_H "1" CACHE STRING "ngspice/config.h header found." )
+    endif()
+endif()
+
 if( WIN32 AND MSYS )
     # NGSPICE_LIBRARY points to libngspice.dll.a on Windows,
     # but the goal is to find out the DLL name.
@@ -41,15 +107,18 @@ if( WIN32 AND MSYS )
     # so try a find_file in exec paths
     if( NGSPICE_DLL STREQUAL "NGSPICE_DLL-NOTFOUND" )
         find_file( NGSPICE_DLL NAMES libngspice-0.dll libngspice-1.dll
-            PATHS ${NGSPICE_ROOT_DIR}
-            PATH_SUFFIXES bin lib
+            PATHS
+                ${NGSPICE_ROOT_DIR}
+            PATH_SUFFIXES
+                bin
+                lib
             )
     endif()
 
     if( NGSPICE_DLL STREQUAL "NGSPICE_DLL-NOTFOUND" )
         message( ERROR ":\n***** libngspice-x.dll not found in any executable path *****\n\n" )
     else()
-        message( info ": libngspice shared lib found: ${NGSPICE_DLL}\n" )
+        message( STATUS ": libngspice shared lib found: ${NGSPICE_DLL}\n" )
     endif()
 else()
     set( NGSPICE_DLL "${NGSPICE_LIBRARY}" )
@@ -78,4 +147,6 @@ mark_as_advanced(
     NGSPICE_INCLUDE_DIR
     NGSPICE_LIBRARY
     NGSPICE_DLL
+    NGSPICE_BUILD_VERSION
+    NGSPIC_HAVE_CONFIG_H
 )
diff --git a/CMakeModules/config.h.cmake b/CMakeModules/config.h.cmake
index d09aaef6be..9aa8a173d7 100644
--- a/CMakeModules/config.h.cmake
+++ b/CMakeModules/config.h.cmake
@@ -80,4 +80,10 @@
 /// Allows scripts install directory to be referenced by the program code.
 #define PYTHON_DEST                     "@PYTHON_DEST@"
 
+/// ngspice version string detected by pkg-config when available.
+#cmakedefine NGSPICE_BUILD_VERSION           "@NGSPICE_BUILD_VERSION@"
+
+/// When pkg-config config is not available for ngspice, use ngspice/config.h for version.
+#cmakedefine NGSPICE_HAVE_CONFIG_H
+
 #endif  // CONFIG_H_
diff --git a/common/build_version.cpp b/common/build_version.cpp
index d2b6ca8dd8..543bad9fdd 100644
--- a/common/build_version.cpp
+++ b/common/build_version.cpp
@@ -147,9 +147,15 @@ wxString GetVersionInfoData( const wxString& aTitle, bool aHtml, bool aBrief )
 
     aMsg << indent4 << "Curl: " << GetCurlLibVersion() << eol;
 
-#ifdef KICAD_SPICE
-#include <ngspice/config.h>
+#if defined( KICAD_SPICE )
+#if defined( NGSPICE_BUILD_VERSION )
+    aMsg << indent4 << "ngspice: " << NGSPICE_BUILD_VERSION << eol;
+#elif defined( NGSPICE_HAVE_CONFIG_H )
+    #include <ngspice/config.h>
     aMsg << indent4 << "ngspice: " << PACKAGE_VERSION << eol;
+#else
+    aMsg << indent4 << "ngspice: " << "unknown" << eol;
+#endif
 #endif
 
     aMsg << indent4 << "Compiler: ";