diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index d261255c45..9ef0621bbf 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@ rs_state.ini
 /TAGS
 /NTLang.bat
 /golast.bat
+/.version
 
 # Destination build directories
 /alpha_nbsd*
diff --git a/build-tools/git-version b/build-tools/git-version
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..b8c6802294
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build-tools/git-version
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+version_file=$1
+
+if [ -f $version_file ] ; then
+  git_version=`cat $version_file`
+else
+  if which git > /dev/null; then
+    git_version=`git describe --abbrev=4 HEAD 2>/dev/null`
+
+    # Is the working tree dirty?
+    if ! git diff-index --quiet --cached HEAD --ignore-submodules || \
+       ! git diff-files --quiet --ignore-submodules ; then
+      git_version="$git_version-dirty"
+    fi
+  else
+    git_version=UNKNOWN
+  fi
+fi
+
+echo "$git_version" | sed -e 's/openafs-[^-]*-//' -e 's/_/./g' | tr -d '\012'
diff --git a/build-tools/libafsdep b/build-tools/libafsdep
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..163773d532
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build-tools/libafsdep
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+git-version
diff --git a/configure-libafs.in b/configure-libafs.in
index c8c476edf5..77fb092a02 100644
--- a/configure-libafs.in
+++ b/configure-libafs.in
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 AC_PRERQ([2.60])
-AC_INIT([OpenAFS], [1.5.74.1])
+AC_INIT([OpenAFS], m4_esyscmd([build-tools/git-version .version]))
 AC_CONFIG_SRCDIR(src/libafs/Makefile.common.in)
 AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE
 
diff --git a/configure.in b/configure.in
index b6269e0fb3..039d8c7fdd 100644
--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 AC_PREREQ([2.60])
-AC_INIT([OpenAFS], [1.5.74.1])
+AC_INIT([OpenAFS], m4_esyscmd([build-tools/git-version .version]))
 AC_CONFIG_SRCDIR([src/config/stds.h])
 AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE
 
diff --git a/src/config/Makefile.version-NOCML.in b/src/config/Makefile.version-NOCML.in
index 0d612ddfa2..e5baf5a036 100644
--- a/src/config/Makefile.version-NOCML.in
+++ b/src/config/Makefile.version-NOCML.in
@@ -6,18 +6,19 @@
 # directory or online at http://www.openafs.org/dl/license10.html
 
 PACKAGE=@PACKAGE@
-VERSION=@VERSION@
 
 AFS_component_version_number.o: AFS_component_version_number.c
 
 AFS_component_version_number.c: @TOP_OBJDIR@/src/config/Makefile.version
-	echo 'char cml_version_number[]="@(#) OpenAFS ${VERSION} built ' `date +"%Y-%m-%d"` '";' >AFS_component_version_number.c
-	echo 'char* AFSVersion = "${PACKAGE} ${VERSION}"; ' >>AFS_component_version_number.c
+	VERSION=`@abs_top_srcdir@/build-tools/git-version @abs_top_srcdir@/.version` && \
+	echo 'char cml_version_number[]="@(#) OpenAFS '$$VERSION' built ' `date +"%Y-%m-%d"` '";' >AFS_component_version_number.c && \
+	echo 'char* AFSVersion = "${PACKAGE} '$$VERSION'";' >>AFS_component_version_number.c
 
 version.xml:
-	echo '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>' >version.xml
-	echo '<revision>' >>version.xml
-	echo '<revnumber>${VERSION}</revnumber>' >>version.xml
+	VERSION=`@abs_top_srcdir@/build-tools/git-version @abs_top_srcdir/.version` && \
+	echo '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>' >version.xml && \
+	echo '<revision>' >>version.xml && \
+	echo '<revnumber>'$$VERSION'</revnumber>' >>version.xml && \
 	echo '</revision>' >>version.xml
 
 version.txt:
diff --git a/src/config/make_libafs_tree.pl b/src/config/make_libafs_tree.pl
index fb8295d755..05e1eb8b10 100755
--- a/src/config/make_libafs_tree.pl
+++ b/src/config/make_libafs_tree.pl
@@ -76,6 +76,8 @@ finddepth(\&find_libafsdep, $projdir);
 &copyit("$projdir/src/libafs/MakefileProto.$ostype.in",
         "$treedir/src/libafs/MakefileProto.in");
 
+$showonly || system("$projdir/build-tools/git-version $projdir/.version > $treedir/.version");
+
 # We need to regenerate this to support building amd64 kernels from a
 # libafs_tree built on i386.
 unlink("$treedir/include/afs/param.h");