diff --git a/core/modules/SConscript b/core/modules/SConscript
index 404e961616..3414ce2c9d 100644
--- a/core/modules/SConscript
+++ b/core/modules/SConscript
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ import state
 Import('env')
 
 
-def standardModule(env, exclude=None, module=None, test_libs=None, unit_tests=None):
+def standardModule(env, exclude=None, module=None, test_libs=None, unit_tests=None, bin_cc_files=None):
     """
     Implementation of SConscript logic for "standard" module.
 
@@ -95,6 +95,14 @@ def standardModule(env, exclude=None, module=None, test_libs=None, unit_tests=No
                 then use this parameter to pass list (or space-separated
                 string) of application names. Can be empty string or list to
                 not run any unit tests.
+    @param bin_cc_files: a dictionary defining which binary products (not
+                the unit tests) should be built out of C/C++ files. Each key
+                of the dictionary is the name of a C/C++ file (with function
+                'main'). This file will be excluded from the unit tests and
+                from a list of *.cc files which are complied into a shared
+                library of the module. And the corresponding value of
+                the dictionary is a list of libraries which are required to
+                build the binary.
     """
 
     build_data = DefaultEnvironment()['build_data']
@@ -104,13 +112,23 @@ def standardModule(env, exclude=None, module=None, test_libs=None, unit_tests=No
         module = os.path.basename(os.getcwd())
     state.log.debug('standardModule: module = %s path = %s' % (module, path))
 
+    # using two optional lists provided by the nmodule to build names of
+    # *.cc files to be excluded from being used to build module's
+    # library or unit tests
+    exclude_cc_files = []
+    if exclude is not None:
+        if isinstance(exclude, str): exclude_cc_files += [exclude,]
+        else:                        exclude_cc_files += exclude
+    if bin_cc_files is not None: exclude_cc_files += bin_cc_files.keys()
+
     # find all *.cc files and split then in two groups: files for libraries
     # and files for test apps
-    cc_files = set(env.Glob(os.path.join(path, "*.cc"), source=True, strings=True, exclude=exclude))
+    cc_files = set(env.Glob(os.path.join(path, "*.cc"), source=True, strings=True, exclude=exclude_cc_files))
     cc_tests = set(fname for fname in cc_files if os.path.basename(fname).startswith("test"))
     # In Python3 order of set iteration is undefined, do manual sorting
     cc_objects = sorted(cc_files - cc_tests)
     cc_tests = sorted(cc_tests)
+    state.log.debug('standardModule: exclude_cc_files = ' + str(exclude_cc_files))
     state.log.debug('standardModule: cc_objects = ' + str(cc_objects))
     state.log.debug('standardModule: cc_tests = ' + str(cc_tests))
 
@@ -163,6 +181,12 @@ def standardModule(env, exclude=None, module=None, test_libs=None, unit_tests=No
     py_installed = env.Install("$prefix/bin", py_scripts)
     build_data['install'] += py_installed
 
+    # inject binary targets built of the optionally provided C/C++ files
+    if bin_cc_files is not None:
+        for f,dependencies in bin_cc_files.items():
+            p = env.Program(f, LIBS=dependencies, LIBPATH=['$build_dir'] + env['LIBPATH'])
+            build_data['build_targets'] += p
+            build_data['install'] += env.Install("$prefix/bin", p)
 
 # ================== SConscript logic start here ====================
 
@@ -274,6 +298,7 @@ build_data['shlibs'] = shlibs.copy()
 build_data['tests'] = []
 build_data['unit_tests'] = []
 build_data['module_lib'] = defaultdict(lambda: None)
+build_data['build_targets'] = []
 
 # store in env so that modules can use it
 defEnv = DefaultEnvironment()
@@ -297,7 +322,6 @@ for mod in all_modules:
         standardModule(env, module=mod)
 
 # define targets for shared libs
-build_targets = []
 for shlib, shopt in shlibs.items():
 
     state.log.debug('defining target for ' + shlib)
@@ -319,7 +343,7 @@ for shlib, shopt in shlibs.items():
     pfx = shopt.get('SHLIBPREFIX', env['SHLIBPREFIX'])
     out = env.SharedLibrary(shlib, objects, LIBS=Split(shopt['libs']),
                             SHLIBPREFIX=pfx, LIBPATH=libPath)
-    build_targets += out
+    build_data['build_targets'] += out
 
     # install target
     instDir = shopt.get('instDir', 'lib')
@@ -341,11 +365,11 @@ if utests:
     # special builder that checks that unit tests were successful
     utests = env.UnitTestCheck('unit-test-check-tag', utests)
 
-build_targets += build_data['tests']
+build_data['build_targets'] += build_data['tests']
 
 # define/extend all aliases
-state.log.debug("build targets: %s" % map(str, build_targets))
-env.Alias("build", build_targets)
+state.log.debug("build targets: %s" % map(str, build_data['build_targets']))
+env.Alias("build", build_data['build_targets'])
 state.log.debug("install targets: %s" % map(str, build_data['install']))
 env.Alias("install-notest", build_data['install'])
 if utests:
diff --git a/core/modules/tests/SConscript b/core/modules/tests/SConscript
index 5f3ff81826..66fe89e4cb 100644
--- a/core/modules/tests/SConscript
+++ b/core/modules/tests/SConscript
@@ -2,4 +2,23 @@
 Import('env')
 Import('standardModule')
 
-standardModule(env, unit_tests="")
+import os.path
+
+# Harvest special binary products - files starting with the package's name
+# followed by underscore:
+#
+#   tests_<something>.cc
+#
+# Then make a Scons target for each of those to be returned by the calling
+# SConscript. Also add the source file into a list of sources to be excluded
+# from the shared library product.
+
+bin_cc_files = {}
+path = "."
+for f in env.Glob(os.path.join(path, "qserv-*.cc"), source=True, strings=True):
+    bin_cc_files[f] = ["qserv_common","util","protobuf","log","log4cxx"]
+
+# Initiate the standard sequence of actions for this module by excluding
+# the above discovered binary sources
+
+standardModule(env, bin_cc_files=bin_cc_files, unit_tests="")
diff --git a/core/modules/tests/qserv-protobuf-assert-version.cc b/core/modules/tests/qserv-protobuf-assert-version.cc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d82270ccb9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/modules/tests/qserv-protobuf-assert-version.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+/*
+ * LSST Data Management System
+ * Copyright 2009-2018 AURA/LSST.
+ *
+ * This product includes software developed by the
+ * LSST Project (http://www.lsst.org/).
+ *
+ * This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+ * the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+ * (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+ * GNU General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the LSST License Statement and
+ * the GNU General Public License along with this program.  If not,
+ * see <http://www.lsstcorp.org/LegalNotices/>.
+ */
+
+// System headers
+
+// Third-party headers
+
+// LSST headers
+#include "lsst/log/Log.h"
+
+// Qserv headers
+#include "proto/worker.pb.h"
+
+namespace {
+LOG_LOGGER _log = LOG_GET("lsst.qserv.tests.tests_protobuf_version");
+}
+
+int main (int arc, char const* argv[]) {
+
+    LOGS(_log, LOG_LVL_INFO, "testing a version of the Protobuf library");
+
+    // Verify that the version of the library that we linked against is
+    // compatible with the version of the headers we compiled against.
+
+    GOOGLE_PROTOBUF_VERIFY_VERSION;
+
+    LOGS(_log, LOG_LVL_INFO, "success");
+
+    return 0;
+}