diff --git a/build.rs b/build.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ce7cf02d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+//
+// imag - the personal information management suite for the commandline
+// Copyright (C) 2015-2018 the imag contributors
+//
+// This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+// modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
+// License as published by the Free Software Foundation; version
+// 2.1 of the License.
+//
+// This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+// but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+// MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
+// Lesser General Public License for more details.
+//
+// You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
+// License along with this library; if not, write to the Free Software
+// Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA  02110-1301  USA
+//
+
+use std::process::Command;
+fn main() {
+    let profile = String::from(std::env::var("PROFILE").unwrap());
+    let git_hash = if profile == "debug" {
+        let output = Command::new("git")
+            .args(&["rev-parse", "--short=10", "HEAD"])
+            .output()
+            .unwrap();
+        String::from_utf8(output.stdout).unwrap()
+    } else {
+        String::from("")
+    };
+
+    println!("cargo:rustc-env=CARGO_BUILD_GIT_HASH={}", git_hash);
+}
diff --git a/lib/core/libimagrt/src/lib.rs b/lib/core/libimagrt/src/lib.rs
index b7336ab4..b6c6e735 100644
--- a/lib/core/libimagrt/src/lib.rs
+++ b/lib/core/libimagrt/src/lib.rs
@@ -59,4 +59,5 @@ pub mod logger;
 pub mod runtime;
 pub mod setup;
 pub mod spec;
+pub mod version;
 
diff --git a/lib/core/libimagrt/src/version.rs b/lib/core/libimagrt/src/version.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3f6d0ff3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/core/libimagrt/src/version.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+//
+// imag - the personal information management suite for the commandline
+// Copyright (C) 2015-2018 Matthias Beyer <mail@beyermatthias.de> and contributors
+//
+// This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+// modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
+// License as published by the Free Software Foundation; version
+// 2.1 of the License.
+//
+// This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+// but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+// MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
+// Lesser General Public License for more details.
+//
+// You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
+// License along with this library; if not, write to the Free Software
+// Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA  02110-1301  USA
+//
+
+#[macro_export]
+macro_rules! make_imag_version {
+    () => {{
+        let pkg_version = env!("CARGO_PKG_VERSION");
+        let git_version = env!("CARGO_BUILD_GIT_HASH");
+
+        if git_version == "" {
+            String::from(pkg_version)
+        } else {
+            format!("{}-{}", pkg_version, git_version)
+        }
+    }}
+}