diff --git a/bootstrap b/bootstrap
index 0fbd4b5..dc68b4d 100644
--- a/bootstrap
+++ b/bootstrap
@@ -4,19 +4,4 @@ if [ ! -d "m4" ]; then
 	mkdir m4
 fi
 
-export COG=$(command -v cog)
-[ -z "$COG"] && export COG=$(command -v cog.py)
-
-if [ -z "$COG" ]; then
-    echo "Please install the Cog code generator, probably with pip install cogapp"
-    return 1
-fi
-
-echo "cog found at $COG"
-for cogfile in $(find src -name "*.cog"); do
-    decogged=${cogfile%.cog}
-    echo "greasing cog for ${decogged}..."
-    $COG -d -o ${decogged} ${cogfile}
-done
-
 autoreconf --install
diff --git a/cogrc b/cogrc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..252f51d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cogrc
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[version]
+release=no
+release_version=0.3
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 02b226a..ee8ffda 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -6,6 +6,16 @@ AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR([m4])
 AC_PROG_CXX
 AX_CXX_COMPILE_STDCXX_11
 
+AC_PATH_PROG([COG], [cog], [not found])
+if test "$COG" == "not found" ; then
+    AC_PATH_PROG([COGPY], [cog.py], [not found])
+    if test "$COGPY" == "not found" ; then
+        AC_MSG_ERROR(["Please install the Cog code generator, probably via "pip install cogapp"])
+    fi
+    COG="$COGPY"
+    AC_SUBST(COG)
+fi
+
 AX_BOOST_BASE([1.63], , [AC_MSG_ERROR([boost 1.63 required])])
 AX_BOOST_SYSTEM
 AX_BOOST_FILESYSTEM
diff --git a/src/Makefile.am b/src/Makefile.am
index 45cfe27..71a330d 100644
--- a/src/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/Makefile.am
@@ -1,4 +1,12 @@
 bin_PROGRAMS = cellar
 cellar_CPPFLAGS = $(BOOST_CPPFLAGS)
 cellar_LDFLAGS = $(BOOST_LDFLAGS) $(BOOST_SYSTEM_LIB) $(BOOST_FILESYSTEM_LIB)
-cellar_SOURCES = cellar.cpp fs.cpp bottles.cpp commands.cpp version.cpp
+cellar_SOURCES = cellar.cpp fs.cpp bottles.cpp commands.cpp
+
+# Generated files
+nodist_cellar_SOURCES = version.cpp
+
+CLEANFILES = version.cpp
+
+version.cpp: 
+	$(COG) -d -o version.cpp version.cpp.cog
diff --git a/src/version.cpp.cog b/src/version.cpp.cog
index e808cb6..34cc24d 100644
--- a/src/version.cpp.cog
+++ b/src/version.cpp.cog
@@ -1,15 +1,44 @@
 // vim: filetype=cpp :
+#include <iostream>
 
+#include "commands.hpp"
 #include "version.hpp"
 
+using namespace std;
+using namespace cellar::version;
+
 string cellar::version::short_version() {
     /*[[[cog
          import cog
-         import os
+         import configparser
+         import datetime
 
-         print(os.getcwd())
+         today = datetime.datetime.today()
 
-         cog.outl("return \"dummy cog file!\";")
+         cparse = configparser.ConfigParser()
+         cparse.read("../cogrc")
+         config = cparse["version"]
+
+         if config.getboolean("release"):
+            outstring = "version {0}, built {1}".format(config["release_version"], str(today))
+         else:
+            try:
+                import subprocess
+                cmdoutput = subprocess.check_output(["git", "symbolic-ref", "HEAD"]).decode().strip()
+                gitbranch = cmdoutput.split("/")[2]
+
+                githash = subprocess.check_output(["git", "rev-parse", "HEAD"]).decode().strip()
+                outstring = "{0} {1}, built {2}".format(gitbranch, githash, str(today))
+            except:
+                outstring = "exception raised when trying to read git data at precompile time"
+                raise
+
+         cog.outl("return \"{0}\";".format(outstring))
     ]]]*/
     //[[[end]]]
 }
+
+void print_version(int argc, char** argv) {
+    cout << short_version() << endl;
+}
+bool _ = cellar::commands::add_command("version", &print_version);