diff --git a/version.sh b/version.sh
index fce5d0da7d..adaa46aa91 100755
--- a/version.sh
+++ b/version.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,20 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 
-revision=0.5
+# check for SVN revision number
+revision=$(cat snapshot_version 2> /dev/null)
+test $revision || revision=$(cd "$1" && LC_ALL=C svn info 2> /dev/null | grep Revision | cut -d' ' -f2)
+test $revision || revision=$(cd "$1" && grep revision .svn/entries 2>/dev/null | cut -d '"' -f2)
+test $revision || revision=$(cd "$1" && sed -n -e '/^dir$/{n;p;q}' .svn/entries 2>/dev/null)
+test $revision && revision=SVN-r$revision
+
+# check for git short hash
+if ! test $revision; then
+    revision=$(cd "$1" && git log -1 --pretty=format:%h)
+    test $revision && revision=git-$revision
+fi
+
+# no version number found
+test $revision || revision=UNKNOWN
 
 test -n "$3" && revision=$revision-$3