diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index a31c15bc..c7d07583 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -105,10 +105,8 @@ endif( NOT ENABLE_DEBUGGER AND ENABLE_SDL )
 
 find_package(Git)
 if(GIT_FOUND AND EXISTS "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/.git")
-    INCLUDE(GetGitRevisionDescription)
-    EXECUTE_PROCESS(COMMAND ${GIT_EXECUTABLE} rev-parse --short HEAD OUTPUT_VARIABLE SHORT_SHA OUTPUT_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE)
-
-    SET(REVISION ${SHORT_SHA} CACHE STRING "git short sha" FORCE)
+    include(GitTagVersion)
+    git_version(VERSION REVISION VERSION_RELEASE)
 
     # only use the plugin to tie the configure state to the sha to force rebuilds
     # of files that depend on version.h
@@ -117,7 +115,9 @@ if(GIT_FOUND AND EXISTS "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/.git")
 else()
     message(WARNING "Git not found, cannot set version info")
 
-    SET(REVISION "unknown")
+    set(VERSION  2.0.0)
+    set(REVISION "unknown")
+    set(VERSION_RELEASE 0)
 endif()
 
 # generate version.h
diff --git a/cmake/GitTagVersion.cmake b/cmake/GitTagVersion.cmake
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ca484a96
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmake/GitTagVersion.cmake
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+function(git_version version revision version_release)
+    set(${version}         "" CACHE STRING "Latest Git Tag Version"  FORCE)
+    set(${revision}        "" CACHE STRING "Latest Git Tag Revision" FORCE)
+    set(${version_release} 0  CACHE STRING "Is this a versioned release without revision" FORCE)
+
+    find_package(Git)
+    if(GIT_FOUND AND EXISTS "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/.git")
+        # get latest version from tag history
+        execute_process(COMMAND ${GIT_EXECUTABLE} tag --sort=-creatordate OUTPUT_VARIABLE sorted_tags OUTPUT_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE)
+
+        # convert to list (see: https://public.kitware.com/pipermail/cmake/2007-May/014222.html)
+        string(REGEX REPLACE ";"  "\\\\;" sorted_tags "${sorted_tags}")
+        string(REGEX REPLACE "\n" ";"     sorted_tags "${sorted_tags}")
+
+        foreach(tag ${sorted_tags})
+            if(tag MATCHES "^v?(([0-9]+\\.?)*[0-9]*)(-(.*))?$")
+                set(${version} "${CMAKE_MATCH_1}" CACHE STRING "Latest Git Tag Version" FORCE)
+                set(revision_str "${CMAKE_MATCH_4}")
+                break()
+            endif()
+        endforeach()
+
+        if(revision_str)
+            # don't need to read revision from tags
+            set(${revision} "${revision_str}" CACHE STRING "Latest Git Tag Revision" FORCE)
+            return()
+        endif()
+
+        # get the current revision
+        execute_process(COMMAND ${GIT_EXECUTABLE} tag "--format=%(align:width=20)%(refname:short)%(end)%(if)%(*objectname)%(then)%(*objectname)%(else)%(objectname)%(end)" --sort=-creatordate OUTPUT_VARIABLE sorted_tags_refs OUTPUT_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE)
+
+        # convert to list (see: https://public.kitware.com/pipermail/cmake/2007-May/014222.html)
+        string(REGEX REPLACE ";"  "\\\\;" sorted_tags_refs "${sorted_tags_refs}")
+        string(REGEX REPLACE "\n" ";"     sorted_tags_refs "${sorted_tags_refs}")
+
+        # get the newest tag
+        list(GET sorted_tags_refs 0 tag_ref)
+
+        string(REGEX REPLACE "^([^ ]+) +([^ ]+)$" "\\1" tag "${tag_ref}")
+        string(REGEX REPLACE "^([^ ]+) +([^ ]+)$" "\\2" ref "${tag_ref}")
+
+        execute_process(COMMAND ${GIT_EXECUTABLE} rev-parse HEAD OUTPUT_VARIABLE current_ref OUTPUT_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE)
+
+        if(tag MATCHES "^v?(([0-9]+\\.?)*[0-9]*)(-(.*))?$" AND ref STREQUAL current_ref)
+            set(revision_str "${CMAKE_MATCH_4}")
+
+            # version and no revision tagged for current commit
+            if(NOT revision_str)
+                set(${revision} "" CACHE STRING "Latest Git Tag Revision" FORCE)
+                set(${version_release} 1 CACHE STRING "Is this a versioned release without revision" FORCE)
+            else()
+                set(${revision} "${revision_str}" CACHE STRING "Latest Git Tag Revision" FORCE)
+            endif()
+        elseif(ref STREQUAL current_ref)
+            # revision name tagged
+            set(${revision} "${tag}" CACHE STRING "Latest Git Tag Revision" FORCE)
+        else()
+            # dev version, use short sha for ref
+            execute_process(COMMAND ${GIT_EXECUTABLE} rev-parse --short HEAD OUTPUT_VARIABLE short_sha OUTPUT_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE)
+            set(${revision} "${short_sha}" CACHE STRING "Latest Git Tag Revision" FORCE)
+        endif()
+    endif()
+endfunction()
diff --git a/src/version.h.in b/src/version.h.in
index b6b95287..02bce794 100644
--- a/src/version.h.in
+++ b/src/version.h.in
@@ -18,13 +18,13 @@
 // Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA  02110-1301, USA.
 
 #define VBA_NAME "VisualBoyAdvance-M"
-#define VBA_CURRENT_VERSION "2.0.0"
+#define VBA_CURRENT_VERSION "@VERSION@"
 
 #define VBA_FEATURE_STRING ""
 
 #define _STRINGIFY(N) #N
 
-#if defined(PUBLIC_RELEASE)
+#if @VERSION_RELEASE@
     #define VBA_SUBVERSION_STRING ""
 #else
     #define VBA_SUBVERSION_STRING "-" "@REVISION@"