diff --git a/htdocs/backend.php b/htdocs/backend.php
index 262fb4b..c0973c0 100644
--- a/htdocs/backend.php
+++ b/htdocs/backend.php
@@ -32,8 +32,6 @@ use Volkszaehler\Controller;
 // enable strict error reporting
 error_reporting(E_ALL | E_STRICT);
 
-// TODO replace by state class
-define('VZ_VERSION', 0.2);
 define('VZ_DIR', realpath(__DIR__ . '/..'));
 
 // class autoloading
@@ -48,6 +46,14 @@ foreach ($classLoaders as $loader) {
 	$loader->register(); // register on SPL autoload stack
 }
 
+if ($hash = Util\Debug::getCurrentCommit()) { // append git sha1 hash to version
+	define('VZ_COMMIT', $hash);
+	define('VZ_VERSION', '0.2.git-' . substr(VZ_COMMIT, -8));
+}
+else {
+	define('VZ_VERSION', '0.2');
+}
+
 Util\Configuration::load(VZ_DIR . '/etc/volkszaehler.conf');
 
 $r = new Router();
diff --git a/lib/Util/Debug.php b/lib/Util/Debug.php
index 9503c99..efdf946 100644
--- a/lib/Util/Debug.php
+++ b/lib/Util/Debug.php
@@ -149,6 +149,21 @@ class Debug {
 	 * @todo encapsulate in state class? or inherit from singleton class?
 	 */
 	public static function getInstance() { return self::$instance; }
+	
+	/**
+	 * Tries to determine the current SHA1 hash of your git commit
+	 * 
+	 * @return string the hash
+	 */
+	public static function getCurrentCommit() {
+		if (file_exists(VZ_DIR . '/.git/HEAD')) {
+			$head = file_get_contents(VZ_DIR . '/.git/HEAD');
+			return substr(file_get_contents(VZ_DIR . '/.git/' . substr($head, strpos($head, ' ')+1, -1)), 0, -1);
+		}
+		else {
+			return FALSE;
+		}
+	}
 }
 
 ?>