diff --git a/hack/build-go.sh b/hack/build-go.sh
index eef27c72e22..4f2a1468469 100755
--- a/hack/build-go.sh
+++ b/hack/build-go.sh
@@ -28,8 +28,8 @@ hackdir=$(CDPATH="" cd $(dirname $0); pwd)
 # Go to the top of the tree.
 cd "${KUBE_REPO_ROOT}"
 
-# Update the version.
-"${hackdir}/version-gen.sh"
+# Fetch the version.
+version=$(gitcommit)
 
 if [[ $# == 0 ]]; then
   # Update $@ with the default list of targets to build.
@@ -41,4 +41,4 @@ for arg; do
   binaries+=("${KUBE_GO_PACKAGE}/${arg}")
 done
 
-go install "${binaries[@]}"
+go install -ldflags "-X github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/version.commitFromGit '${version}'" "${binaries[@]}"
diff --git a/hack/config-go.sh b/hack/config-go.sh
index 5d6c60c887b..15f52332433 100644
--- a/hack/config-go.sh
+++ b/hack/config-go.sh
@@ -17,6 +17,27 @@
 # This script sets up a go workspace locally and builds all go components.
 # You can 'source' this file if you want to set up GOPATH in your local shell.
 
+# gitcommit prints the current Git commit information
+function gitcommit() {
+  set -o errexit
+  set -o nounset
+  set -o pipefail
+
+  topdir=$(dirname "$0")/..
+  cd "${topdir}"
+
+  # TODO: when we start making tags, switch to git describe?
+  if git_commit=$(git rev-parse --short "HEAD^{commit}" 2>/dev/null); then
+    # Check if the tree is dirty.
+    if ! dirty_tree=$(git status --porcelain) || [[ -n "${dirty_tree}" ]]; then
+      echo "${git_commit}-dirty"
+    fi
+  else
+    echo "(none)"
+  fi
+  return 0
+}
+
 if [[ -z "$(which go)" ]]; then
   echo "Can't find 'go' in PATH, please fix and retry." >&2
   echo "See http://golang.org/doc/install for installation instructions." >&2
diff --git a/hack/version-gen.sh b/hack/version-gen.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 77082a81253..00000000000
--- a/hack/version-gen.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,41 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-
-# Copyright 2014 Google Inc. All rights reserved.
-#
-# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
-# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
-# You may obtain a copy of the License at
-#
-#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-#
-# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
-# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
-# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
-# limitations under the License.
-
-set -o errexit
-set -o nounset
-set -o pipefail
-
-topdir=$(dirname "$0")/..
-cd "${topdir}"
-
-# TODO: when we start making tags, switch to git describe?
-if git_commit=$(git rev-parse --short "HEAD^{commit}" 2>/dev/null); then
-  # Remove any invalid characters that might confuse "sed".
-  git_commit=${git_commit//[^a-f0-9]/}
-
-  # Check if the tree is dirty.
-  if ! dirty_tree=$(git status --porcelain) || [[ -n "${dirty_tree}" ]]; then
-    git_commit="${git_commit}-dirty"
-  fi
-else
-  git_commit="(none)"
-  echo "WARNING: unable to find git commit, falling back to commitFromGit = \`${git_commit}\`" >&2
-fi
-
-# TODO: Instead of using an autogenerated file, we could pass this variable
-# to the source through Go's -X ldflag.
-sed "s/@@GIT_COMMIT@@/${git_commit}/g" \
-  pkg/version/template.go.tmpl >pkg/version/autogenerated.go
diff --git a/pkg/version/template.go.tmpl b/pkg/version/template.go.tmpl
deleted file mode 100644
index cfcf47dea74..00000000000
--- a/pkg/version/template.go.tmpl
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,23 +0,0 @@
-/*
-Copyright 2014 Google Inc. All rights reserved.
-
-Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
-you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
-You may obtain a copy of the License at
-
-    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-
-Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
-WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
-See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
-limitations under the License.
-*/
-
-package version
-
-// This file is the template for the machine-edited autogenerated.go.
-// Do not modify this file without also modifying hack/version-gen.sh.
-var (
-	commitFromGit = `@@GIT_COMMIT@@`
-)
diff --git a/pkg/version/version.go b/pkg/version/version.go
index f8af642dfaf..b44b7a185e1 100644
--- a/pkg/version/version.go
+++ b/pkg/version/version.go
@@ -20,6 +20,10 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 )
 
+// commitFromGit is a constant representing the source version that
+// generated this build. It should be set during build via -ldflags.
+var commitFromGit string
+
 // Info contains versioning information.
 // TODO: Add []string of api versions supported? It's still unclear
 // how we'll want to distribute that information.
@@ -41,5 +45,9 @@ func Get() Info {
 
 // String returns info as a human-friendly version string.
 func (info Info) String() string {
-	return fmt.Sprintf("version %s.%s, build %s", info.Major, info.Minor, info.GitCommit)
+	commit := info.GitCommit
+	if commit == "" {
+		commit = "(unknown)"
+	}
+	return fmt.Sprintf("version %s.%s, build %s", info.Major, info.Minor, commit)
 }
diff --git a/release/build-release.sh b/release/build-release.sh
index 198b9c6b443..48fe0ddc8e4 100755
--- a/release/build-release.sh
+++ b/release/build-release.sh
@@ -27,10 +27,6 @@ INSTANCE_PREFIX=$1
 
 KUBE_DIR=$SCRIPT_DIR/..
 
-# First ensure the version pkg is complete and is up to date
-HACK_DIR=$KUBE_DIR/hack
-$HACK_DIR/version-gen.sh
-
 # Next build the release tar.  This gets copied on to the master and installed
 # from there.  It includes the go source for the necessary servers along with
 # the salt configs.