diff --git a/.version b/.version
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..fff8b7773
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.version
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+v1.15.4
diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index fd29cf6ab..a011d19d2 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -68,6 +68,8 @@ data_convertdir = $(datadir)/GConf/gsettings
 dist_data_convert_DATA = liferea.convert
 
 EXTRA_DIST = \
+	.version \
+	version.sh \
 	net.sf.liferea.gschema.xml.in \
 	po/liferea.pot \
 	$(desktop_in_files) \
diff --git a/autogen.sh b/autogen.sh
index 928c17d0f..f1f8b51de 100755
--- a/autogen.sh
+++ b/autogen.sh
@@ -18,6 +18,9 @@ if [ "$tmp" = "" ]; then
 	exit 1
 fi
 
+rm -f configure aclocal.m4 autom4te.cache/*
+rmdir --ignore-fail-on-non-empty autom4te.cache
+find . -iname "Makefile" -o -iname "Makefile.in" -o -iname "Makefile.in.in" -type f  -exec rm -f '{}' +
 autoreconf -i
 intltoolize
 if test -z "$NOCONFIGURE"; then
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index d94f67239..b1d444e7a 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 dnl Process this file with autoconf to produce a configure script.
 
-AC_INIT([liferea],[1.15.4],[liferea-devel@lists.sourceforge.net])
+AC_INIT([liferea],[m4_esyscmd([./version.sh|tr -d '\n'])],[liferea-devel@lists.sourceforge.net])
 AC_CANONICAL_HOST
 AC_CONFIG_SRCDIR([src/feedlist.c])
 
diff --git a/version.sh b/version.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..f4192e1f9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/version.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env sh
+
+set -eu
+
+DIR=$(dirname "$0")
+
+VER_FILE="${DIR}/.version"
+
+touch -c "${VER_FILE}"
+
+if [ -d "$DIR/.git" ]; then
+    EXACT_TAG=$(git name-rev --name-only --tags HEAD)
+    if [ "$EXACT_TAG" = 'undefined' ]; then
+        HEAD=$(git rev-parse --short HEAD)
+        DATE=$(git log -1 --format=%cd --date=format:'%Y-%m-%d')
+        VER="${HEAD}"-"${DATE}"
+    else
+        VER="$EXACT_TAG"
+    fi
+else
+    VER="$(head -1 "${VER_FILE}")"
+fi
+
+echo "$VER"