diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 4f55f631b9327ce4af5c54a8050244f0debfa4df..d3d0855e03227c3e7796f9ed0e4fa390ad0d0afa 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -183,11 +183,17 @@ SCRIPTS = $(SCRIPT_SH) $(SCRIPT_PERL) gitk
 
 ### Build rules
 
-all: $(PROGRAMS)
+all: $(PROGRAMS) git.sh
 
 all:
 	$(MAKE) -C templates
 
+git.sh: git.sh.in Makefile
+	rm -f $@+ $@
+	sed -e 's/@@GIT_VERSION@@/$(GIT_VERSION)/g' <$@.in >$@+
+	chmod +x $@+
+	mv $@+ $@
+
 %.o: %.c
 	$(CC) -o $*.o -c $(ALL_CFLAGS) $<
 %.o: %.S
@@ -293,7 +299,7 @@ deb: dist
 
 clean:
 	rm -f *.o mozilla-sha1/*.o ppc/*.o $(PROGRAMS) $(LIB_FILE)
-	rm -f git-core.spec
+	rm -f git-core.spec git.sh
 	rm -rf $(GIT_TARNAME)
 	rm -f $(GIT_TARNAME).tar.gz git-core_$(GIT_VERSION)-*.tar.gz
 	rm -f git-core_$(GIT_VERSION)-*.deb git-core_$(GIT_VERSION)-*.dsc
diff --git a/git.sh b/git.sh.in
similarity index 84%
rename from git.sh
rename to git.sh.in
index f9676507916184d567ed76d9e69a9ce2d8b00798..178d0f0c09cad4859656dd4480ad9c096032f545 100755
--- a/git.sh
+++ b/git.sh.in
@@ -6,6 +6,11 @@ case "$#" in
 0)	;;
 *)	cmd="$1"
 	shift
+	case "$cmd" in
+	-v|--v|--ve|--ver|--vers|--versi|--versio|--version)
+		echo "git version @@GIT_VERSION@@"
+		exit 0 ;;
+	esac
 	test -x $path/git-$cmd && exec $path/git-$cmd "$@" ;;
 esac