diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index b58b992fd..35b779b61 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -5,3 +5,4 @@
 /dist
 /MANIFEST
 .gdb_history
+/alot/VERSION
diff --git a/MANIFEST.in b/MANIFEST.in
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8fb908876
--- /dev/null
+++ b/MANIFEST.in
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+include alot/VERSION
diff --git a/alot/__init__.py b/alot/__init__.py
index 2704c6cd2..7575f5cbf 100644
--- a/alot/__init__.py
+++ b/alot/__init__.py
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
+
+from version import get_git_version
+
 __productname__ = 'alot'
-__version__ = '0.20'
+__version__ = get_git_version()
 __copyright__ = "Copyright (C) 2011 Patrick Totzke"
 __author__ = "Patrick Totzke"
 __author_email__ = "patricktotzke@gmail.com"
diff --git a/alot/version.py b/alot/version.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e5dc8cb58
--- /dev/null
+++ b/alot/version.py
@@ -0,0 +1,118 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+# Author: Douglas Creager <dcreager@dcreager.net>
+# This file is placed into the public domain.
+
+# It's customized for alot. changes:
+#   * read VERSION file relative to this file
+
+# Calculates the current version number.  If possible, this is the
+# output of “git describe”, modified to conform to the versioning
+# scheme that setuptools uses.  If “git describe” returns an error
+# (most likely because we're in an unpacked copy of a release tarball,
+# rather than in a git working copy), then we fall back on reading the
+# contents of the RELEASE-VERSION file.
+#
+# To use this script, simply import it your setup.py file, and use the
+# results of get_git_version() as your package version:
+#
+# from version import *
+#
+# setup(
+#     version=get_git_version(),
+#     .
+#     .
+#     .
+# )
+#
+# This will automatically update the RELEASE-VERSION file, if
+# necessary.  Note that the RELEASE-VERSION file should *not* be
+# checked into git; please add it to your top-level .gitignore file.
+#
+# You'll probably want to distribute the RELEASE-VERSION file in your
+# sdist tarballs; to do this, just create a MANIFEST.in file that
+# contains the following line:
+#
+#   include RELEASE-VERSION
+
+__all__ = ("get_git_version")
+
+import os.path
+VERSIONFILE = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), 'VERSION')
+
+try:
+    from subprocess import Popen, PIPE
+except ImportError:
+    import warnings
+    warnings.warn("Can't import subprocess module,"
+                  "git version will not be available.")
+
+
+def call_git_describe(abbrev=4):
+    try:
+        p = Popen(['git', 'describe', '--abbrev=%d' % abbrev],
+                  stdout=PIPE, stderr=PIPE)
+        p.stderr.close()
+        line = p.stdout.readlines()[0]
+        version = line.strip()
+        if version[:1] == 'v':
+            version = version[1:]
+        return version
+
+    except:
+        return None
+
+
+def read_release_version():
+    try:
+        f = open(VERSIONFILE, "r")
+
+        try:
+            version = f.readlines()[0]
+            return version.strip()
+
+        finally:
+            f.close()
+
+    except:
+        return None
+
+
+def write_release_version(version):
+    f = open(VERSIONFILE, "w")
+    f.write("%s\n" % version)
+    f.close()
+
+
+def get_git_version(abbrev=4):
+    # Read in the version that's currently in RELEASE-VERSION.
+
+    release_version = read_release_version()
+
+    # First try to get the current version using “git describe”.
+
+    version = call_git_describe(abbrev)
+
+    # If that doesn't work, fall back on the value that's in
+    # RELEASE-VERSION.
+
+    if version is None:
+        version = release_version
+
+    # If we still don't have anything, that's an error.
+
+    if version is None:
+        raise ValueError("Cannot find the version number!")
+
+    # If the current version is different from what's in the
+    # RELEASE-VERSION file, update the file to be current.
+
+    if version != release_version:
+        write_release_version(version)
+
+    # Finally, return the current version.
+
+    return version
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    print (get_git_version())
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 6d7340aec..93d1f18d5 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 from distutils.core import setup
 import alot
 
+
 setup(name='alot',
       version=alot.__version__,
       description=alot.__description__,
@@ -10,7 +11,8 @@
       author_email=alot.__author_email__,
       url=alot.__url__,
       packages=['alot', 'alot.commands'],
-      package_data={'alot': ['defaults/alot.rc', 'defaults/notmuch.rc']},
+      package_data={'alot': ['defaults/alot.rc', 'defaults/notmuch.rc',
+          'VERSION']},
       scripts=['bin/alot'],
       license=alot.__copyright__,
       requires=[
@@ -19,6 +21,5 @@
         'urwid (>=1.0)',
         'twisted (>=10.2.0)',
         'subprocess (>=2.7)'],
-      provides='alot'
+      provides='alot',
 )
-