[texhax] latex --version = pdfTeX ... ?

[Daniel Greenhoe]

I am under constraint to use LaTeX for a project and I have occasion
to include the LaTeX and dvipdfmx version numbers in the final pdf
metadata.

But if in the TexLive 2015 distributed latex.exe I enter
  latex --version
I get
  pdfTeX 3.14159265-2.6-1.40.16 (TeX Live 2015/W32TeX) ...

Could something that begins with "pdfTeX" really be the version number
of a latex.exe program? Is latex.exe just a special configuration of
pdftex?

Many many thanks in advance,
Dan