diff --git a/Makefile.in b/Makefile.in
index 7a94b158..6c83c72d 100644
--- a/Makefile.in
+++ b/Makefile.in
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ $(MDPCLIENTOBJS): $(HDRS)
 
 servald:	$(OBJS)
 	@echo LINK $@
-	@$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -Wall -o $@ $(OBJS) $(LDFLAGS)
+	@v=`./version_string.sh` && $(CC) $(CFLAGS) -Wall -o $@ -DSERVALD_VERSION="\"$$v\"" version_servald.c $(OBJS) $(LDFLAGS)
 
 directory_service: $(MDPCLIENTOBJS) directory_service.o
 	@echo LINK $@
diff --git a/commandline.c b/commandline.c
index 4f5d6260..b0be726f 100644
--- a/commandline.c
+++ b/commandline.c
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ extern struct cli_schema command_line_options[];
 
 int commandline_usage(const struct cli_parsed *parsed, void *context)
 {
-  printf("Serval Mesh version <version>.\n");
+  printf("Serval DNA version %s\n", version_servald);
   return cli_usage(command_line_options);
 }
 
diff --git a/serval.h b/serval.h
index ac676b76..7589f7c5 100644
--- a/serval.h
+++ b/serval.h
@@ -141,6 +141,9 @@ struct in_addr {
 /* Limit packet payloads to minimise packet loss of big packets in mesh networks */
 #define MAX_DATA_BYTES 256
 
+
+extern const char version_servald[];
+
 /*
  * INSTANCE_PATH can be set via the ./configure option --enable-instance-path=<path>
  */
diff --git a/version_servald.c b/version_servald.c
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..32028fd5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/version_servald.c
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+#ifndef SERVALD_VERSION
+#error "SERVALD_VERSION is not defined"
+#endif
+
+const char version_servald[] = SERVALD_VERSION;
diff --git a/version_string.sh b/version_string.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..4e862f2a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/version_string.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+# Serval Project Serval DNA version string generator
+# Copyright 2013 Serval Project, Inc.
+#
+# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+# modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
+# as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2
+# of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
+# Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA  02110-1301, USA.
+
+set -e
+
+get_author_label() {
+   # See git-commit-tree(1) for the semantics of working out the author's email
+   # address when committing.
+   local email
+   email="${GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL:-${GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL:-${EMAIL:-$(git config --get user.email)}}}"
+   # Serval Project email addresses get special treatment, to reduce day-to-day
+   # version string verbosity.
+   case "$email" in
+   *@servalproject.org) author_label="${email%@*}";;
+   *) author_label="$email";;
+   esac
+}
+
+dirty=
+dirtyfiles=$(git status --short --untracked-files=no)
+if [ -n "$dirtyfiles" ]; then
+   get_author_label
+   dirty="+$author_label-$(date '+%Y%m%d%H%M%S')"
+fi
+
+if ! git describe "${dirty:+--dirty=$dirty}" 2>/dev/null; then
+   original_commit=$(git rev-list --reverse --max-parents=0 --abbrev-commit HEAD 2>/dev/null | head -n 1)
+   if [ -n "$original_commit" ]; then
+      original_commit=$(git rev-list --reverse --abbrev-commit HEAD | head -n 1)
+   fi
+   if [ -z "$original_commit" ]; then
+      echo "$0: original commit unknown" >&2
+      exit 1
+   fi
+   existing_start_tag="$(git tag --points-at $original_commit --list START)"
+   if [ -n "$(git tag --list START)" -a -z "$existing_start_tag" ]; then
+      echo "$0: tag 'START' is already in use" >&2
+      exit 1
+   fi
+   if [ -z "$existing_start_tag" ]; then
+      git tag START $original_commit
+   fi
+   git describe --dirty="$dirty" --tags
+   if [ -z "$existing_start_tag" ]; then
+      git tag -d START >/dev/null
+   fi
+fi