diff --git a/build/Makefile b/build/Makefile
index 44c24ae974..d154a34913 100644
--- a/build/Makefile
+++ b/build/Makefile
@@ -24,6 +24,9 @@ release-normal: superclean $(JS_SRCFILES)
 	-cp -r * $(RELEASE_FULL_DIR);
 	rm -rf $(RELEASE_FULL_DIR)/src/*/.git $(RELEASE_FULL_DIR)/$(RELEASE_FULL) $(RELEASE_FULL_DIR)/src/util $(RELEASE_FULL_DIR)/build;
 
+        # version-stamp Browser.js
+	perl -i -pE 's!(?<=BUILD_SYSTEM_JBROWSE_VERSION);! = "$(RELEASE_VERSION)";!' $(JSDIR)/Browser.js;
+
 	( cd $(BASEDIR)/src/util/buildscripts && node ../../dojo/dojo.js load=build --require "$(BASEDIR)/build/init.js" --profile "$(JSDIR)/JBrowse.profile.js" --releaseDir "$(RELEASE_FULL_DIR)/src"; )
 	for HTMLFILE in index compat_121; do \
 	  perl -pe "s/(?<=data-dojo-config=\")[^\"]+\"/deps: ['JBrowse'], async: 1\"/;" $$HTMLFILE.html > "$(RELEASE_FULL_DIR)/$$HTMLFILE.html"; \
@@ -33,6 +36,7 @@ release-normal: superclean $(JS_SRCFILES)
 	perl -MDateTime -i -pE 'BEGIN{ $$datestring = DateTime->from_epoch( epoch => time(), time_zone => DateTime::TimeZone->new(name => "local"))->format_cldr(q|yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss VVVV|)}; s/\{\{\$$NEXT\}\}\s*/$(RELEASE_VERSION)     $$datestring\n/m' $(RELEASE_FULL_DIR)/release-notes.txt
 	cp $(RELEASE_FULL_DIR)/release-notes.txt .;
 	perl -i -pE 'say "{{\$$NEXT}}\n" unless $$x++' release-notes.txt;
+
 	$(ZIP) $(RELEASE_FULL).zip $(RELEASE_FULL)/;
 
 release-normal-test: release-normal
diff --git a/src/JBrowse/Browser.js b/src/JBrowse/Browser.js
index 8ef74b5092..9a01091ae1 100644
--- a/src/JBrowse/Browser.js
+++ b/src/JBrowse/Browser.js
@@ -74,6 +74,11 @@ var Browser = function(params) {
     dojo.connect( this, 'onRefSeqsLoaded', Util.debugHandler( this, 'reportUsageStats' ));
 };
 
+Browser.prototype.version = function() {
+    var BUILD_SYSTEM_JBROWSE_VERSION;
+    return BUILD_SYSTEM_JBROWSE_VERSION || 'development';
+}.call();
+
 /**
  * Displays links to configuration help in the main window.  Called
  * when the main browser cannot run at all, due to configuration