diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index a61f95c1..00e21379 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -337,7 +337,7 @@ test: test-fsck test-mkfs test-convert test-misc test-fuzz test-cli
 #
 static: $(progs_static)
 
-version.h: version.sh version.h.in configure.ac
+version.h: version.h.in configure.ac
 	@echo "    [SH]     $@"
 	$(Q)bash ./config.status --silent $@
 
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6484bbee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+v4.14.1
diff --git a/autogen.sh b/autogen.sh
index 80442c5b..342941bf 100755
--- a/autogen.sh
+++ b/autogen.sh
@@ -61,7 +61,6 @@ echo "   autoconf:   $(autoconf --version | head -1)"
 echo "   autoheader: $(autoheader --version | head -1)"
 echo "   automake:   $(automake --version | head -1)"
 
-chmod +x version.sh
 rm -rf autom4te.cache
 
 aclocal -I m4 $AL_OPTS &&
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 290dc1d5..55242b0d 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 AC_INIT([btrfs-progs],
-	m4_esyscmd([./version.sh --configure]),
+	m4_chomp(m4_include([VERSION])),
 	[linux-btrfs@vger.kernel.org],,
 	[http://btrfs.wiki.kernel.org])
 
diff --git a/version.sh b/version.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index bcdad348..00000000
--- a/version.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,37 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-#
-# determine-version -- report a useful version for releases
-#
-# Copyright 2008, Aron Griffis <agriffis@n01se.net>
-# Copyright 2008, Oracle
-# Released under the GNU GPLv2
-
-v="v4.14.1"
-
-opt=$1
-
-which git &> /dev/null
-if [ $? == 0 -a -d .git ]; then
-    if head=`git rev-parse --verify HEAD 2>/dev/null`; then
-        if tag=`git describe --tags 2>/dev/null`; then
-            v="$tag"
-        fi
-
-        # Are there uncommitted changes?
-        git update-index --refresh --unmerged > /dev/null
-        if git diff-index --name-only HEAD | grep -v "^scripts/package" \
-            | read dummy; then
-            v="$v"-dirty
-        fi
-    fi
-fi
-
-if [ "$opt" = "--configure" ]; then
-	# Omit the trailing newline, so that m4_esyscmd can use the result directly.
-	echo -n "$v"
-else
-	echo "$v"
-fi
-
-exit 0
-