diff --git a/.gitattibutes b/.gitattibutes
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2415029
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitattibutes
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+.gitignore		export-ignore
+.gitattributes		export-ignore
+
+update_version		export-ignore
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 80c72f6..19a7a22 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ opusfile.pc
 opusfile-uninstalled.pc
 opusurl.pc
 opusurl-uninstalled.pc
+package_version
 unix/objs
 unix/opusfile_example
 unix/seeking_example
diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 983e3f0..9cd0633 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -45,7 +45,6 @@ EXTRA_DIST = \
  opusfile-uninstalled.pc.in \
  opusurl-uninstalled.pc.in \
  doc/Doxyfile.in \
- doc/git-version.sh \
  doc/opus_logo.svg \
  doc/Makefile \
  unix/Makefile
@@ -91,4 +90,40 @@ uninstall-local:
 
 endif
 
+# We check this every time make is run, with configure.ac being touched to
+# trigger an update of the build system files if update_version changes the
+# current PACKAGE_VERSION (or if package_version was modified manually by a
+# user with either AUTO_UPDATE=no or no update_version script present - the
+# latter being the normal case for tarball releases).
+#
+# We can't just add the package_version file to CONFIGURE_DEPENDENCIES since
+# simply running autoconf will not actually regenerate configure for us when
+# the content of that file changes (due to autoconf dependency checking not
+# knowing about that without us creating yet another file for it to include).
+#
+# The MAKECMDGOALS check is a gnu-make'ism, but will degrade 'gracefully' for
+# makes that don't support it.  The only loss of functionality is not forcing
+# an update of package_version for `make dist` if AUTO_UPDATE=no, but that is
+# unlikely to be a real problem for any real user.
+$(top_srcdir)/configure.ac: force
+	@case "$(MAKECMDGOALS)" in \
+	    dist-hook)                             exit 0       ;; \
+	    dist-* | dist | distcheck | distclean) _arg=release ;; \
+	esac; \
+	if ! $(top_srcdir)/update_version $$_arg 2> /dev/null; then \
+	    if [ ! -e $(top_srcdir)/package_version ]; then \
+		echo 'PACKAGE_VERSION="unknown"' > $(top_srcdir)/package_version; \
+	    fi; \
+	    . $(top_srcdir)/package_version || exit 1; \
+	    [ "$(PACKAGE_VERSION)" != "$$PACKAGE_VERSION" ] || exit 0; \
+	fi; \
+	touch $@
+
+force:
+
+# Create a minimal package_version file when make dist is run.
+dist-hook:
+	echo 'PACKAGE_VERSION="$(PACKAGE_VERSION)"' > $(top_distdir)/package_version
+
+
 .PHONY: opusfile install-opusfile docs install-docs
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index e3a7ad3..2bed739 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1,11 +1,23 @@
 # autoconf source script for generating configure
 
-AC_INIT([opusfile], m4_esyscmd([doc/git-version.sh]))
+dnl The package_version file will be automatically synced to the git revision
+dnl by the update_version script when configured in the repository, but will
+dnl remain constant in tarball releases unless it is manually edited.
+m4_define([CURRENT_VERSION],
+          m4_esyscmd_s([ if test -e package_version || ./update_version; then
+                             . ./package_version
+                             printf "$PACKAGE_VERSION"
+                         else
+                             printf "unknown"
+                         fi ]))
+
+AC_INIT([opusfile],[CURRENT_VERSION],[opus@xiph.org])
+AC_CONFIG_SRCDIR([src/opusfile.c])
 
 AC_USE_SYSTEM_EXTENSIONS
 AC_SYS_LARGEFILE
 
-AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([1.11 foreign])
+AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([1.11 foreign no-define])
 AM_MAINTAINER_MODE([enable])
 LT_INIT
 
@@ -130,7 +142,7 @@ if test "$HAVE_DOXYGEN" != "yes" -o "$enable_doc" != "yes" ; then
 fi
 AM_CONDITIONAL(HAVE_DOXYGEN, [test $HAVE_DOXYGEN = yes])
 
-AC_OUTPUT([
+AC_CONFIG_FILES([
   Makefile
   opusfile.pc
   opusurl.pc
@@ -138,10 +150,11 @@ AC_OUTPUT([
   opusurl-uninstalled.pc
   doc/Doxyfile
 ])
+AC_OUTPUT
 
 AC_MSG_NOTICE([
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
-  $PACKAGE $VERSION: Automatic configuration OK.
+  $PACKAGE_NAME $PACKAGE_VERSION: Automatic configuration OK.
 
     Assertions ................... ${enable_assertions}
 
diff --git a/doc/Doxyfile.in b/doc/Doxyfile.in
index 5e30304..5f0f3f6 100644
--- a/doc/Doxyfile.in
+++ b/doc/Doxyfile.in
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # Process with doxygen to generate API documentation
 
-PROJECT_NAME           = @PACKAGE@
-PROJECT_NUMBER         = @VERSION@
+PROJECT_NAME           = @PACKAGE_NAME@
+PROJECT_NUMBER         = @PACKAGE_VERSION@
 PROJECT_BRIEF          = "Stand-alone decoder library for .opus files."
 INPUT                  = @top_srcdir@/include/opusfile.h
 OPTIMIZE_OUTPUT_FOR_C  = YES
diff --git a/doc/Makefile b/doc/Makefile
index 24e62ab..f0c5e42 100644
--- a/doc/Makefile
+++ b/doc/Makefile
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 ## GNU makefile for opusfile documentation.
 
+-include ../package_version
+
 all: doxygen
 
 doxygen: Doxyfile ../include/opusfile.h
@@ -17,10 +19,16 @@ distclean: clean
 
 .PHONY: all clean distclean doxygen pdf
 
+../package_version:
+	@if [ -x ../update_version ]; then \
+		../update_version || true; \
+	elif [ ! -e $@ ]; then \
+		echo 'PACKAGE_VERSION="unknown"' > $@; \
+	fi
+
 # run autoconf-like replacements to finalize our config
-GIT_VERSION := $(shell ./git-version.sh)
-Doxyfile: Doxyfile.in Makefile
-	sed -e 's/@PACKAGE@/opusfile/' \
-	    -e 's/@VERSION@/$(GIT_VERSION)/' \
+Doxyfile: Doxyfile.in Makefile ../package_version
+	sed -e 's/@PACKAGE_NAME@/opusfile/' \
+	    -e 's/@PACKAGE_VERSION@/$(PACKAGE_VERSION)/' \
 	    -e 's/@top_srcdir@/../' \
 	  < $< > $@
diff --git a/doc/git-version.sh b/doc/git-version.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 812219e..0000000
--- a/doc/git-version.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,13 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/sh
-
-# script to build a version string
-
-GIT_VERSION=$(git describe --tags --match 'v*' --dirty 2> /dev/null)
-GIT_VERSION=$(echo ${GIT_VERSION} | sed 's/^v//')
-if test -z ${GIT_VERSION}; then
-  VERSION='unknown'
-else
-  VERSION=${GIT_VERSION}
-fi
-
-/bin/echo -n ${VERSION}
diff --git a/opusfile-uninstalled.pc.in b/opusfile-uninstalled.pc.in
index f953e2d..b5861a4 100644
--- a/opusfile-uninstalled.pc.in
+++ b/opusfile-uninstalled.pc.in
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ includedir=${pcfiledir}/@top_srcdir@/include
 
 Name: opusfile uninstalled
 Description: High-level Opus decoding library (not installed)
-Version: @VERSION@
+Version: @PACKAGE_VERSION@
 Requires.private: ogg >= 1.3 opus >= 1.0.1
 Conflicts:
 Libs: ${libdir}/libopusfile.la @lrintf_lib@
diff --git a/opusfile.pc.in b/opusfile.pc.in
index 8c315be..9622591 100644
--- a/opusfile.pc.in
+++ b/opusfile.pc.in
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ includedir=@includedir@
 
 Name: opusfile
 Description: High-level Opus decoding library
-Version: @VERSION@
+Version: @PACKAGE_VERSION@
 Requires.private: ogg >= 1.3 opus >= 1.0.1
 Conflicts:
 Libs: -L${libdir} -lopusfile
diff --git a/opusurl-uninstalled.pc.in b/opusurl-uninstalled.pc.in
index f3af6a1..f47786a 100644
--- a/opusurl-uninstalled.pc.in
+++ b/opusurl-uninstalled.pc.in
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ includedir=${pcfiledir}/@top_srcdir@/include
 
 Name: opusfile uninstalled
 Description: High-level Opus decoding library, URL support (not installed)
-Version: @VERSION@
+Version: @PACKAGE_VERSION@
 Requires: opusfile
 Requires.private: @openssl@
 Conflicts:
diff --git a/opusurl.pc.in b/opusurl.pc.in
index 27bd788..df63759 100644
--- a/opusurl.pc.in
+++ b/opusurl.pc.in
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ includedir=@includedir@
 
 Name: opusurl
 Description: High-level Opus decoding library, URL support
-Version: @VERSION@
+Version: @PACKAGE_VERSION@
 Requires: opusfile
 Requires.private: @openssl@
 Conflicts:
diff --git a/update_version b/update_version
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..a999991
--- /dev/null
+++ b/update_version
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# Creates and updates the package_version information used by configure.ac
+# (or other makefiles).  When run inside a git repository it will use the
+# version information that can be queried from it unless AUTO_UPDATE is set
+# to 'no'.  If no version is currently known it will be set to 'unknown'.
+#
+# If called with the argument 'release', the PACKAGE_VERSION will be updated
+# even if AUTO_UPDATE=no, but the value of AUTO_UPDATE shall be preserved.
+# This is used to force a version update whenever `make dist` is run.
+#
+# The exit status is 1 if package_version is not modified, else 0 is returned.
+#
+# This script should NOT be included in distributed tarballs, because if a
+# parent directory contains a git repository we do not want to accidentally
+# retrieve the version information from it instead.  Tarballs should ship
+# with only the package_version file.
+#
+# Ron <ron@debian.org>, 2012.
+
+SRCDIR=$(dirname $0)
+
+if [ -e "$SRCDIR/package_version" ]; then
+    . "$SRCDIR/package_version"
+fi
+
+if [ "$AUTO_UPDATE" = no ]; then
+    [ "$1" = release ] || exit 1
+else
+    AUTO_UPDATE=yes
+fi
+
+# We run `git status` before describe here to ensure that we don't get a false
+# -dirty from files that have been touched but are not actually altered in the
+# working dir.
+GIT_VERSION=$(cd "$SRCDIR" && git status > /dev/null 2>&1 \
+                           && git describe --tags --match 'v*' --dirty 2> /dev/null)
+GIT_VERSION=${GIT_VERSION#v}
+
+if [ -n "$GIT_VERSION" ]; then
+
+    [ "$GIT_VERSION" != "$PACKAGE_VERSION" ] || exit 1
+    PACKAGE_VERSION="$GIT_VERSION"
+
+elif [ -z "$PACKAGE_VERSION" ]; then
+    # No current package_version and no git ...
+    # We really shouldn't ever get here, because this script should only be
+    # included in the git repository, and should usually be export-ignored.
+    PACKAGE_VERSION="unknown"
+else
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+cat > "$SRCDIR/package_version" <<-EOF
+	# Automatically generated by update_version.
+	# This file may be sourced into a shell script or makefile.
+
+	# Set this to 'no' if you do not wish the version information
+	# to be checked and updated for every build.  Most people will
+	# never want to change this, it is an option for developers
+	# making frequent changes that they know will not be released.
+	AUTO_UPDATE=$AUTO_UPDATE
+
+	PACKAGE_VERSION="$PACKAGE_VERSION"
+EOF