diff --git a/SCYLLA-VERSION-GEN b/SCYLLA-VERSION-GEN
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..5003984a69
--- /dev/null
+++ b/SCYLLA-VERSION-GEN
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+VERSION=0.8
+
+if test -f version
+then
+	SCYLLA_VERSION=$(cat version | awk -F'-' '{print $1}')
+	SCYLLA_RELEASE=$(cat version | awk -F'-' '{print $2}')
+else
+	DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d)
+	GIT_COMMIT=$(git log --pretty=format:'%h' -n 1)
+	SCYLLA_VERSION=$VERSION
+	SCYLLA_RELEASE=$DATE.$GIT_COMMIT
+fi
+
+echo "$SCYLLA_VERSION-$SCYLLA_RELEASE"
+mkdir -p build
+echo "$SCYLLA_VERSION" > build/SCYLLA-VERSION-FILE
+echo "$SCYLLA_RELEASE" > build/SCYLLA-RELEASE-FILE
diff --git a/configure.py b/configure.py
index 579a6cfd32..96fd88012f 100755
--- a/configure.py
+++ b/configure.py
@@ -199,6 +199,8 @@ args = arg_parser.parse_args()
 defines = []
 urchin_libs = '-llz4 -lsnappy -lz -lboost_thread -lcryptopp -lrt -lyaml-cpp -lboost_date_time'
 
+extra_cxxflags = {}
+
 cassandra_interface = Thrift(source = 'interface/cassandra.thrift', service = 'Cassandra')
 
 urchin_core = (['database.cc',
@@ -208,6 +210,7 @@ urchin_core = (['database.cc',
                  'row_cache.cc',
                  'frozen_mutation.cc',
                  'memtable.cc',
+                 'release.cc',
                  'utils/logalloc.cc',
                  'utils/large_bitset.cc',
                  'mutation_partition.cc',
@@ -482,6 +485,18 @@ link_pool_depth = max(int(total_memory / 7e9), 1)
 build_modes = modes if args.mode == 'all' else [args.mode]
 build_artifacts = all_artifacts if not args.artifacts else args.artifacts
 
+status = subprocess.call("./SCYLLA-VERSION-GEN")
+if status != 0:
+    print('Version file generation failed')
+    sys.exit(1)
+
+file = open('build/SCYLLA-VERSION-FILE', 'r')
+scylla_version = file.read().strip()
+file = open('build/SCYLLA-RELEASE-FILE', 'r')
+scylla_release = file.read().strip()
+
+extra_cxxflags["release.cc"] = "-DSCYLLA_VERSION=\"\\\"" + scylla_version + "\\\"\" -DSCYLLA_RELEASE=\"\\\"" + scylla_release + "\\\"\""
+
 seastar_flags = ['--disable-xen']
 if args.dpdk:
     # fake dependencies on dpdk, so that it is built before anything else
@@ -523,6 +538,7 @@ user_cflags = args.user_cflags
 
 outdir = 'build'
 buildfile = 'build.ninja'
+
 os.makedirs(outdir, exist_ok = True)
 do_sanitize = True
 if args.static:
@@ -654,6 +670,8 @@ with open(buildfile, 'w') as f:
                 gen_headers += g.headers('$builddir/{}/gen'.format(mode))
             gen_headers += list(swaggers.keys())
             f.write('build {}: cxx.{} {} || {} \n'.format(obj, mode, src, ' '.join(gen_headers)))
+            if src in extra_cxxflags:
+                f.write('    cxxflags = {}\n'.format(extra_cxxflags[src]))
         for hh in ragels:
             src = ragels[hh]
             f.write('build {}: ragel {}\n'.format(hh, src))
diff --git a/dist/redhat/build_rpm.sh b/dist/redhat/build_rpm.sh
index 81090ec950..3ad18f0ba5 100755
--- a/dist/redhat/build_rpm.sh
+++ b/dist/redhat/build_rpm.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 #!/bin/sh -e
 
-SCYLLA_VER=0.00
 RPMBUILD=build/rpmbuild
 
 if [ ! -e dist/redhat/build_rpm.sh ]; then
@@ -10,7 +9,15 @@ fi
 if [ ! -f /usr/bin/mock ]; then
     sudo yum -y install mock
 fi
+VERSION=$(./SCYLLA-VERSION-GEN)
+SCYLLA_VERSION=$(cat build/SCYLLA-VERSION-FILE)
+SCYLLA_RELEASE=$(cat build/SCYLLA-RELEASE-FILE)
 mkdir -p $RPMBUILD/{BUILD,BUILDROOT,RPMS,SOURCES,SPECS,SRPMS}
-./scripts/git-archive-all --force-submodules --prefix scylla-server-$SCYLLA_VER $RPMBUILD/SOURCES/scylla-server-$SCYLLA_VER.tar
-rpmbuild -bs --define "_topdir $RPMBUILD" -ba dist/redhat/scylla-server.spec
-mock rebuild --resultdir=`pwd`/build/rpms $RPMBUILD/SRPMS/scylla-server-$SCYLLA_VER*.src.rpm
+echo $VERSION >version
+./scripts/git-archive-all --extra version --force-submodules --prefix scylla-server-$VERSION $RPMBUILD/SOURCES/scylla-server-$VERSION.tar
+rm -f version
+cp dist/redhat/scylla-server.spec.in $RPMBUILD/SPECS/scylla-server.spec
+sed -i -e "s/@@VERSION@@/$SCYLLA_VERSION/g" $RPMBUILD/SPECS/scylla-server.spec
+sed -i -e "s/@@RELEASE@@/$SCYLLA_RELEASE/g" $RPMBUILD/SPECS/scylla-server.spec
+rpmbuild -bs --define "_topdir $RPMBUILD" -ba $RPMBUILD/SPECS/scylla-server.spec
+mock rebuild --resultdir=`pwd`/build/rpms $RPMBUILD/SRPMS/scylla-server-$VERSION*.src.rpm
diff --git a/dist/redhat/scylla-server.spec b/dist/redhat/scylla-server.spec.in
similarity index 97%
rename from dist/redhat/scylla-server.spec
rename to dist/redhat/scylla-server.spec.in
index acb0520934..3663cf7e8a 100644
--- a/dist/redhat/scylla-server.spec
+++ b/dist/redhat/scylla-server.spec.in
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 Name:           scylla-server
-Version:        0.00
-Release:        1%{?dist}
+Version:        @@VERSION@@
+Release:        @@RELEASE@@%{?dist}
 Summary:        Scylla is a highly scalable, eventually consistent, distributed, partitioned row DB.
 Group:          Applications/Databases
 
 License:        Proprietary
 URL:            http://www.seastar-project.org/
-Source0:        %{name}-%{version}.tar
+Source0:        %{name}-@@VERSION@@-@@RELEASE@@.tar
 
 BuildRequires:  libaio-devel boost-devel libstdc++-devel cryptopp-devel xen-devel hwloc-devel numactl-devel libpciaccess-devel libxml2-devel zlib-devel thrift-devel yaml-cpp-devel lz4-devel snappy-devel jsoncpp-devel systemd-devel xz-devel openssl-devel libcap-devel libselinux-devel libgcrypt-devel libgpg-error-devel elfutils-devel krb5-devel libcom_err-devel libattr-devel pcre-devel elfutils-libelf-devel bzip2-devel keyutils-libs-devel ninja-build ragel antlr3-tool antlr3-C++-devel libasan libubsan gcc-c++ make python3
 Requires:       libaio boost-program-options boost-system libstdc++ boost-thread cryptopp xen-libs hwloc-libs numactl-libs libpciaccess libxml2 zlib thrift yaml-cpp lz4 snappy jsoncpp boost-filesystem systemd-libs xz-libs openssl-libs libcap libselinux libgcrypt libgpg-error elfutils-libs krb5-libs libcom_err libattr pcre elfutils-libelf bzip2-libs keyutils-libs
diff --git a/main.cc b/main.cc
index ff0de5b032..1a2d5b7f82 100644
--- a/main.cc
+++ b/main.cc
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 #include "log.hh"
 #include "debug.hh"
 #include "init.hh"
+#include "release.hh"
 #include <cstdio>
 
 namespace bpo = boost::program_options;
@@ -139,6 +140,7 @@ int main(int ac, char** av) {
             engine().exit(1);
             return make_ready_future<>();
         }
+        print("Scylla version %s starting ...\n", scylla_version());
         auto&& opts = app.configuration();
 
         return read_config(opts, *cfg).then([&cfg, &db, &qp, &proxy, &mm, &ctx, &opts, &dirs]() {
diff --git a/release.cc b/release.cc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e08ffc4ab6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/release.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2015 Cloudius Systems, Ltd.
+ */
+
+#include "version.hh"
+
+#include <seastar/core/print.hh>
+
+static const char scylla_version_str[] = SCYLLA_VERSION;
+static const char scylla_release_str[] = SCYLLA_RELEASE;
+
+std::string scylla_version()
+{
+    return sprint("%s-%s", scylla_version_str, scylla_release_str);
+}
diff --git a/release.hh b/release.hh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ebdaf23828
--- /dev/null
+++ b/release.hh
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2015 Cloudius Systems, Ltd.
+ */
+
+#pragma once
+
+#include <string>
+
+std::string scylla_version();