diff --git a/Makefile.in b/Makefile.in
index 0ef513bc4..e9520da03 100644
--- a/Makefile.in
+++ b/Makefile.in
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@ DRIVERDIRS = drivers/net
 LWIPDIRS = lwip/src/arch lwip/src/api lwip/src/core lwip/src/core/ipv4 lwip/src/core/ipv6 lwip/src/netif
 KERNDIRS = kernel mm libkern arch/$(ARCH)/kernel arch/$(ARCH)/mm $(LWIPDIRS) $(DRIVERDIRS)
 SUBDIRS = $(KERNDIRS)
-GIT_VERSION := $(shell git describe --abbrev=6 --dirty --always --tags)
 TODAY := $(shell date +'%Y%m%d')
 QEMU = @QEMU@ -machine accel=kvm -cpu host
 CROSSDIR = @prefix@/bin
@@ -58,7 +57,7 @@ NASM = nasm
 NASMFLAGS = -felf64 -g -i$(TOPDIR)/include/hermit/
 
 INCLUDE = -I$(TOPDIR)/include -I$(TOPDIR)/arch/$(ARCH)/include  -I$(TOPDIR)/lwip/src/include -I$(TOPDIR)/drivers
-CFLAGS = -DVERSION=\"$(GIT_VERSION)\" -g -m64 -Wall -O2 -mno-red-zone -fno-var-tracking-assignments -fstrength-reduce -fomit-frame-pointer -finline-functions -ffreestanding -nostdinc -fno-stack-protector -mno-sse -mno-mmx -mno-sse2 -mno-3dnow -mno-avx -fno-delete-null-pointer-checks -falign-jumps=1 -falign-loops=1 -mno-80387 -mno-fp-ret-in-387 -mskip-rax-setup -fno-common -Wframe-larger-than=1024 -fno-strict-aliasing -fno-asynchronous-unwind-tables -fno-strict-overflow -maccumulate-outgoing-args $(INCLUDE)
+CFLAGS = -g -m64 -Wall -O2 -mno-red-zone -fno-var-tracking-assignments -fstrength-reduce -fomit-frame-pointer -finline-functions -ffreestanding -nostdinc -fno-stack-protector -mno-sse -mno-mmx -mno-sse2 -mno-3dnow -mno-avx -fno-delete-null-pointer-checks -falign-jumps=1 -falign-loops=1 -mno-80387 -mno-fp-ret-in-387 -mskip-rax-setup -fno-common -Wframe-larger-than=1024 -fno-strict-aliasing -fno-asynchronous-unwind-tables -fno-strict-overflow -maccumulate-outgoing-args $(INCLUDE)
 AR = ar
 ARFLAGS = rsv
 RM = rm -rf
diff --git a/kernel/main.c b/kernel/main.c
index f268ef8d6..2fcd9bce3 100644
--- a/kernel/main.c
+++ b/kernel/main.c
@@ -569,7 +569,7 @@ int hermit_main(void)
 	hermit_init();
 	system_calibration(); // enables also interrupts
 
-	LOG_INFO("This is Hermit %s, build date %u\n", VERSION, &__DATE__);
+	LOG_INFO("This is Hermit %s, build date %u\n", PACKAGE_VERSION, &__DATE__);
 	LOG_INFO("Isle %d of %d possible isles\n", isle, possible_isles);
 	LOG_INFO("Kernel starts at %p and ends at %p\n", &kernel_start, &kernel_end);
 	LOG_INFO("TLS image starts at %p and ends at %p (size 0x%zx)\n", &tls_start, &tls_end, ((size_t) &tls_end) - ((size_t) &tls_start));