diff --git a/src/AboutDialog.cpp b/src/AboutDialog.cpp
index c63869c2..d41519a0 100644
--- a/src/AboutDialog.cpp
+++ b/src/AboutDialog.cpp
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 #include "AboutDialog.h"
 #include "ui_AboutDialog.h"
+#include "gen_version.h"
 #include <sqlite3.h>
 
 AboutDialog::AboutDialog(QWidget *parent) :
diff --git a/src/src.pro b/src/src.pro
index e7dbea55..4e6d36b2 100644
--- a/src/src.pro
+++ b/src/src.pro
@@ -17,6 +17,18 @@ CONFIG(unittest) {
   SOURCES += main.cpp
 }
 
+# version reporting
+#version.depends = version.sh
+# the following line is commented because otherwise qmake would always call
+# this build step and would always relink the target
+# I assume that is kinda ok for release, but for development we dont care
+# about an all time super actual git version number
+# so this is disabled for the debug build
+#CONFIG(debug,debug|release):version.target = Makefile.Debug
+CONFIG(release,debug|release):version.target = Makefile.Release
+version.commands = sh $$PWD/version.sh $$PWD
+QMAKE_EXTRA_TARGETS += version
+
 HEADERS += \
     sqlitedb.h \
     MainWindow.h \
@@ -35,7 +47,8 @@ HEADERS += \
     grammar/Sqlite3Parser.hpp \
     grammar/sqlite3TokenTypes.hpp \
     sqlitetablemodel.h \
-    FilterTableHeader.h
+    FilterTableHeader.h \
+    gen_version.h
 
 SOURCES += \
     sqlitedb.cpp \
@@ -68,9 +81,6 @@ FORMS += \
     ExportCsvDialog.ui \
     ImportCsvDialog.ui
 
-
-QMAKE_CXXFLAGS += -DAPP_VERSION=\\\"`cd $$PWD;git log -n1 --format=%h_git`\\\"
-
 unix { 
     LIBS += -ldl
 }
diff --git a/src/version.sh b/src/version.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..5c84183f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/version.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+cd $1
+echo -n "#define APP_VERSION " > gen_version.h
+git log -n1 --format="\"%h_git\"" >> gen_version.h