diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 435a215e51..fa79c9f91c 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -12,9 +12,14 @@ set(DEPS_BIN_DIR "${DEPS_INSTALL_DIR}/bin")
 
 list(APPEND CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH ${DEPS_INSTALL_DIR})
 
-set(NEOVIM_VERSION_MAJOR 0)
-set(NEOVIM_VERSION_MINOR 0)
-set(NEOVIM_VERSION_PATCH 0)
+include(GetGitRevisionDescription)
+get_git_head_revision(GIT_REFSPEC GIT_SHA1)
+set(NVIM_VERSION_MAJOR 0)
+set(NVIM_VERSION_MINOR 0)
+set(NVIM_VERSION_PATCH 0)
+set(NVIM_VERSION_PRERELEASE "-alpha")
+# TODO(justinmk): do not set this for "release" builds #1071
+set(NVIM_VERSION_BUILD "+${GIT_SHA1}")
 
 set(CMAKE_EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS ON)
 
diff --git a/cmake/GetGitRevisionDescription.cmake b/cmake/GetGitRevisionDescription.cmake
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d77c89eda9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmake/GetGitRevisionDescription.cmake
@@ -0,0 +1,132 @@
+# https://github.com/rpavlik/cmake-modules
+#
+# - Returns a version string from Git
+#
+# These functions force a re-configure on each git commit so that you can
+# trust the values of the variables in your build system.
+#
+#  get_git_head_revision(<refspecvar> <hashvar> [<additional arguments to git describe> ...])
+#
+# Returns the refspec and sha hash of the current head revision
+#
+#  git_describe(<var> [<additional arguments to git describe> ...])
+#
+# Returns the results of git describe on the source tree, and adjusting
+# the output so that it tests false if an error occurs.
+#
+#  git_get_exact_tag(<var> [<additional arguments to git describe> ...])
+#
+# Returns the results of git describe --exact-match on the source tree,
+# and adjusting the output so that it tests false if there was no exact
+# matching tag.
+#
+# Requires CMake 2.6 or newer (uses the 'function' command)
+#
+# Original Author:
+# 2009-2010 Ryan Pavlik <rpavlik@iastate.edu> <abiryan@ryand.net>
+# http://academic.cleardefinition.com
+# Iowa State University HCI Graduate Program/VRAC
+#
+# Copyright Iowa State University 2009-2010.
+# Distributed under the Boost Software License, Version 1.0.
+# (See accompanying file LICENSE_1_0.txt or copy at
+# http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt)
+
+if(__get_git_revision_description)
+  return()
+endif()
+set(__get_git_revision_description YES)
+
+# We must run the following at "include" time, not at function call time,
+# to find the path to this module rather than the path to a calling list file
+get_filename_component(_gitdescmoddir ${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_FILE} PATH)
+
+function(get_git_head_revision _refspecvar _hashvar)
+  set(GIT_PARENT_DIR "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}")
+  set(GIT_DIR "${GIT_PARENT_DIR}/.git")
+  while(NOT EXISTS "${GIT_DIR}")	# .git dir not found, search parent directories
+    set(GIT_PREVIOUS_PARENT "${GIT_PARENT_DIR}")
+    get_filename_component(GIT_PARENT_DIR ${GIT_PARENT_DIR} PATH)
+    if(GIT_PARENT_DIR STREQUAL GIT_PREVIOUS_PARENT)
+      # We have reached the root directory, we are not in git
+      set(${_refspecvar} "GITDIR-NOTFOUND" PARENT_SCOPE)
+      set(${_hashvar} "GITDIR-NOTFOUND" PARENT_SCOPE)
+      return()
+    endif()
+    set(GIT_DIR "${GIT_PARENT_DIR}/.git")
+  endwhile()
+  # check if this is a submodule
+  if(NOT IS_DIRECTORY ${GIT_DIR})
+    file(READ ${GIT_DIR} submodule)
+    string(REGEX REPLACE "gitdir: (.*)\n$" "\\1" GIT_DIR_RELATIVE ${submodule})
+    get_filename_component(SUBMODULE_DIR ${GIT_DIR} PATH)
+    get_filename_component(GIT_DIR ${SUBMODULE_DIR}/${GIT_DIR_RELATIVE} ABSOLUTE)
+  endif()
+  set(GIT_DATA "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/CMakeFiles/git-data")
+  if(NOT EXISTS "${GIT_DATA}")
+    file(MAKE_DIRECTORY "${GIT_DATA}")
+  endif()
+
+  if(NOT EXISTS "${GIT_DIR}/HEAD")
+    return()
+  endif()
+  set(HEAD_FILE "${GIT_DATA}/HEAD")
+  configure_file("${GIT_DIR}/HEAD" "${HEAD_FILE}" COPYONLY)
+
+  configure_file("${_gitdescmoddir}/GetGitRevisionDescription.cmake.in"
+    "${GIT_DATA}/grabRef.cmake"
+    @ONLY)
+  include("${GIT_DATA}/grabRef.cmake")
+
+  set(${_refspecvar} "${HEAD_REF}" PARENT_SCOPE)
+  set(${_hashvar} "${HEAD_HASH}" PARENT_SCOPE)
+endfunction()
+
+function(git_describe _var)
+  if(NOT GIT_FOUND)
+    find_package(Git QUIET)
+  endif()
+  get_git_head_revision(refspec hash)
+  if(NOT GIT_FOUND)
+    set(${_var} "GIT-NOTFOUND" PARENT_SCOPE)
+    return()
+  endif()
+  if(NOT hash)
+    set(${_var} "HEAD-HASH-NOTFOUND" PARENT_SCOPE)
+    return()
+  endif()
+
+  # TODO sanitize
+  #if((${ARGN}" MATCHES "&&") OR
+  #	(ARGN MATCHES "||") OR
+  #	(ARGN MATCHES "\\;"))
+  #	message("Please report the following error to the project!")
+  #	message(FATAL_ERROR "Looks like someone's doing something nefarious with git_describe! Passed arguments ${ARGN}")
+  #endif()
+
+  #message(STATUS "Arguments to execute_process: ${ARGN}")
+
+  execute_process(COMMAND
+    "${GIT_EXECUTABLE}"
+    describe
+    ${hash}
+    ${ARGN}
+    WORKING_DIRECTORY
+    "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}"
+    RESULT_VARIABLE
+    res
+    OUTPUT_VARIABLE
+    out
+    ERROR_QUIET
+    OUTPUT_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE)
+  if(NOT res EQUAL 0)
+    set(out "${out}-${res}-NOTFOUND")
+  endif()
+
+  set(${_var} "${out}" PARENT_SCOPE)
+endfunction()
+
+function(git_get_exact_tag _var)
+  git_describe(out --exact-match ${ARGN})
+  set(${_var} "${out}" PARENT_SCOPE)
+endfunction()
diff --git a/cmake/GetGitRevisionDescription.cmake.in b/cmake/GetGitRevisionDescription.cmake.in
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..8a085b2671
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmake/GetGitRevisionDescription.cmake.in
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+# 
+# Internal file for GetGitRevisionDescription.cmake
+#
+# Requires CMake 2.6 or newer (uses the 'function' command)
+#
+# Original Author:
+# 2009-2010 Ryan Pavlik <rpavlik@iastate.edu> <abiryan@ryand.net>
+# http://academic.cleardefinition.com
+# Iowa State University HCI Graduate Program/VRAC
+#
+# Copyright Iowa State University 2009-2010.
+# Distributed under the Boost Software License, Version 1.0.
+# (See accompanying file LICENSE_1_0.txt or copy at
+# http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt)
+
+set(HEAD_HASH)
+
+file(READ "@HEAD_FILE@" HEAD_CONTENTS LIMIT 1024)
+
+string(STRIP "${HEAD_CONTENTS}" HEAD_CONTENTS)
+if(HEAD_CONTENTS MATCHES "ref")
+  # named branch
+  string(REPLACE "ref: " "" HEAD_REF "${HEAD_CONTENTS}")
+  if(EXISTS "@GIT_DIR@/${HEAD_REF}")
+    configure_file("@GIT_DIR@/${HEAD_REF}" "@GIT_DATA@/head-ref" COPYONLY)
+  elseif(EXISTS "@GIT_DIR@/logs/${HEAD_REF}")
+    configure_file("@GIT_DIR@/logs/${HEAD_REF}" "@GIT_DATA@/head-ref" COPYONLY)
+    set(HEAD_HASH "${HEAD_REF}")
+  endif()
+else()
+  # detached HEAD
+  configure_file("@GIT_DIR@/HEAD" "@GIT_DATA@/head-ref" COPYONLY)
+endif()
+
+if(NOT HEAD_HASH)
+  file(READ "@GIT_DATA@/head-ref" HEAD_HASH LIMIT 1024)
+  string(STRIP "${HEAD_HASH}" HEAD_HASH)
+endif()
diff --git a/config/config.h.in b/config/config.h.in
index ba0945cf56..95d5326ad6 100644
--- a/config/config.h.in
+++ b/config/config.h.in
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
-#define NEOVIM_VERSION_MAJOR @NEOVIM_VERSION_MAJOR@
-#define NEOVIM_VERSION_MINOR @NEOVIM_VERSION_MINOR@
-#define NEOVIM_VERSION_PATCH @NEOVIM_VERSION_PATCH@
+#define NVIM_VERSION_MAJOR @NVIM_VERSION_MAJOR@
+#define NVIM_VERSION_MINOR @NVIM_VERSION_MINOR@
+#define NVIM_VERSION_PATCH @NVIM_VERSION_PATCH@
+#define NVIM_VERSION_PRERELEASE "@NVIM_VERSION_PRERELEASE@"
+#define NVIM_VERSION_BUILD "@NVIM_VERSION_BUILD@"
 
 #cmakedefine DEBUG