diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 4ac9f70ab14b4176828ac516b57d7df8223b2d42..7b4242374914b83a73454199a670c1bd77993b2d 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -73,28 +73,8 @@ include(coveralls)
 
 # Set PaddlePaddle version to Git tag name or Git commit ID.
 find_package(Git REQUIRED)
-execute_process(
-  COMMAND ${GIT_EXECUTABLE} describe --tags --exact-match --abbrev=0
-  WORKING_DIRECTORY ${PROJ_ROOT}
-  OUTPUT_VARIABLE GIT_TAG_NAME
-  RESULT_VARIABLE GIT_RESULT
-  ERROR_QUIET OUTPUT_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE)
-if(NOT ${GIT_RESULT})
-  set(PADDLE_VERSION ${GIT_TAG_NAME})
-else()
-  execute_process(
-    COMMAND ${GIT_EXECUTABLE} log -1 --format=%h
-    WORKING_DIRECTORY ${PROJ_ROOT}
-    OUTPUT_VARIABLE GIT_SHA1
-    RESULT_VARIABLE GIT_RESULT
-    ERROR_QUIET OUTPUT_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE)
-  if(NOT ${GIT_RESULT})
-    set(PADDLE_VERSION ${GIT_SHA1})
-  else()
-    set(PADDLE_VERSION "unknown")
-    message(WARNING "Cannot add paddle version from git tag")
-  endif()
-endif()
+# version.cmake will get the current PADDLE_VERSION
+include(version)
 add_definitions(-DPADDLE_VERSION=\"${PADDLE_VERSION}\")
 
 
diff --git a/cmake/version.cmake b/cmake/version.cmake
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..a0518e07e88a1ff468c301523f888c7d95e15185
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmake/version.cmake
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+# Get the latest git tag.
+set(PADDLE_VERSION $ENV{PADDLE_VERSION})
+set(tmp_version "HEAD")
+while ("${PADDLE_VERSION}" STREQUAL "")
+  execute_process(
+    COMMAND ${GIT_EXECUTABLE} describe --tags --abbrev=0 ${tmp_version}
+    WORKING_DIRECTORY ${PROJ_ROOT}
+    OUTPUT_VARIABLE GIT_TAG_NAME
+    RESULT_VARIABLE GIT_RESULT
+    ERROR_QUIET OUTPUT_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE)
+  if (NOT ${GIT_RESULT})
+    # Check the tag is a correct version
+    if (${GIT_TAG_NAME} MATCHES "v[0-9]+\\.[0-9]+\\.[0-9]+(\\.(a|b|rc)\\.[0-9]+)?")
+      string(REPLACE "v" "" PADDLE_VERSION ${GIT_TAG_NAME})
+    else()  # otherwise, get the previous git tag name.
+      set(tmp_version "${GIT_TAG_NAME}~1")
+    endif()
+  else()
+    set(PADDLE_VERSION "0.0.0")
+    message(WARNING "Cannot add paddle version from git tag")
+  endif()
+endwhile()
+
+message(STATUS "Paddle version is ${PADDLE_VERSION}")