diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index b0920a2a..940d7d51 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -43,3 +43,5 @@ include/clixon_config.h
 
 lib/src/build.c
 lib/clixon/clixon.h
+
+build-root/*.tar.xz
diff --git a/Makefile.in b/Makefile.in
index 97e1f57b..4ad5ff70 100644
--- a/Makefile.in
+++ b/Makefile.in
@@ -108,9 +108,43 @@ distclean:
 	rm -f Makefile TAGS config.status config.log *~ .depend
 	rm -rf Makefile autom4te.cache 
 	rm -rf clixon.conf.cpp clixon.mk
+	rm -f build-root/*.tar.xz
 	for i in $(SUBDIRS) doc example docker; \
 		do (cd $$i && $(MAKE) $(MFLAGS) $@); done
 
+export BR=$(CURDIR)/build-root
+
+$(BR)/scripts/.version:
+ifneq ("$(wildcard /etc/redhat-release)","")
+	$(shell $(BR)/scripts/version rpm-string > $(BR)/scripts/.version)
+else
+	$(shell $(BR)/scripts/version > $(BR)/scripts/.version)
+endif
+
+DIST_FILE = $(BR)/clixon-$(shell extras/scripts/version).tar
+DIST_SUBDIR = clixon-$(shell extras/scripts/version | cut -f1 -d-)
+
+dist:
+	@if git rev-parse 2> /dev/null ; then \
+	    git archive \
+	      --prefix=$(DIST_SUBDIR)/ \
+	      --format=tar \
+	      -o $(DIST_FILE) \
+	    HEAD ; \
+	    git describe > $(BR)/.version ; \
+	else \
+	    (cd .. ; tar -cf $(DIST_FILE) $(DIST_SUBDIR) --exclude=*.tar) ; \
+	    extras/scripts/version > $(BR)/.version ; \
+	fi
+	@tar --append \
+	  --file $(DIST_FILE) \
+	  --transform='s,.*/.version,$(DIST_SUBDIR)/extras/scripts/.version,' \
+	  $(BR)/.version
+	@$(RM) $(BR)/.version $(DIST_FILE).xz
+	@xz -v --threads=0 $(DIST_FILE)
+	@$(RM) $(BR)/clixon-latest.tar.xz
+	@ln -rs $(DIST_FILE).xz $(BR)/clixon-latest.tar.xz
+
 docker:
 	for i in docker; \
 		do (cd $$i && $(MAKE) $(MFLAGS) $@); done
diff --git a/build-root/scripts/version b/build-root/scripts/version
new file mode 120000
index 00000000..0144b7ee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build-root/scripts/version
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+../../extras/scripts/version
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/extras/scripts/version b/extras/scripts/version
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..d52ca207
--- /dev/null
+++ b/extras/scripts/version
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+#
+# Obtained from VPP - https://wiki.fd.io/view/VPP
+#
+
+path=$( cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE}")" ; pwd -P )
+
+cd "$path"
+
+if [ -f .version ]; then
+    vstring=$(cat .version)
+else
+    vstring=$(git describe)
+    if [ $? != 0 ]; then
+      exit 1
+    fi
+fi
+
+TAG=$(echo ${vstring} | cut -d- -f1 | sed -e 's/^[vR]//')
+ADD=$(echo ${vstring} | cut -s -d- -f2)
+
+git rev-parse 2> /dev/null
+if [ $? == 0 ]; then
+    CMT=$(git describe --dirty | cut -s -d- -f3,4)
+else
+    CMT=$(echo ${vstring} | cut -s -d- -f3,4)
+fi
+CMTR=$(echo $CMT | sed 's/-/_/')
+
+if [ -n "${BUILD_NUMBER}" ]; then
+       BLD="~b${BUILD_NUMBER}"
+fi
+
+if [ "$1" = "rpm-version" ]; then
+  echo ${TAG}
+  exit
+fi
+
+if [ "$1" = "rpm-release" ]; then
+  [ -z "${ADD}" ] && echo release && exit
+  echo ${ADD}${CMTR:+~${CMTR}}${BLD}
+  exit
+fi
+
+  if [ -n "${ADD}" ]; then
+    if [ "$1" = "rpm-string" ]; then
+      echo ${TAG}-${ADD}${CMTR:+~${CMTR}}${BLD}
+    else
+      echo ${TAG}-${ADD}${CMT:+~${CMT}}${BLD}
+    fi
+  else
+    echo ${TAG}-release
+fi