diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index eb9001db..ef126136 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -5,7 +5,8 @@ What's new in psycopg 2.7.5
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 
 - Fixed building on Solaris 11 and derivatives such as SmartOS and illumos
-  (:ticket:`#677`)
+  (:ticket:`#677`).
+- Maybe fixed building on MSYS2 (as reported in :ticket:`#658`).
 
 
 What's new in psycopg 2.7.4
diff --git a/psycopg/psycopgmodule.c b/psycopg/psycopgmodule.c
index 6c95bd69..5deaa163 100644
--- a/psycopg/psycopgmodule.c
+++ b/psycopg/psycopgmodule.c
@@ -72,6 +72,10 @@ HIDDEN PyObject *psyco_null = NULL;
 /* The type of the cursor.description items */
 HIDDEN PyObject *psyco_DescriptionType = NULL;
 
+/* macro trick to stringify a macro expansion */
+#define xstr(s) str(s)
+#define str(s) #s
+
 /** connect module-level function **/
 #define psyco_connect_doc \
 "_connect(dsn, [connection_factory], [async]) -- New database connection.\n\n"
@@ -885,7 +889,7 @@ INIT_MODULE(_psycopg)(void)
         psycopg_debug_enabled = 1;
 #endif
 
-    Dprintf("initpsycopg: initializing psycopg %s", PSYCOPG_VERSION);
+    Dprintf("initpsycopg: initializing psycopg %s", xstr(PSYCOPG_VERSION));
 
     /* initialize all the new types and then the module */
     Py_TYPE(&connectionType) = &PyType_Type;
@@ -1017,7 +1021,7 @@ INIT_MODULE(_psycopg)(void)
     if (!(psyco_DescriptionType = psyco_make_description_type())) { goto exit; }
 
     /* set some module's parameters */
-    PyModule_AddStringConstant(module, "__version__", PSYCOPG_VERSION);
+    PyModule_AddStringConstant(module, "__version__", xstr(PSYCOPG_VERSION));
     PyModule_AddStringConstant(module, "__doc__", "psycopg PostgreSQL driver");
     PyModule_AddIntConstant(module, "__libpq_version__", PG_VERSION_NUM);
     PyModule_AddIntMacro(module, REPLICATION_PHYSICAL);
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 24c087de..6fc66d9e 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -612,10 +612,7 @@ if version_flags:
 else:
     PSYCOPG_VERSION_EX = PSYCOPG_VERSION
 
-if not PLATFORM_IS_WINDOWS:
-    define_macros.append(('PSYCOPG_VERSION', '"' + PSYCOPG_VERSION_EX + '"'))
-else:
-    define_macros.append(('PSYCOPG_VERSION', '\\"' + PSYCOPG_VERSION_EX + '\\"'))
+define_macros.append(('PSYCOPG_VERSION', PSYCOPG_VERSION_EX))
 
 if parser.has_option('build_ext', 'have_ssl'):
     have_ssl = int(parser.get('build_ext', 'have_ssl'))