diff --git a/GIT_VERSION b/GIT_VERSION
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..f59cc05cb6952f2fd8a3be03c1765c99881acb22
--- /dev/null
+++ b/GIT_VERSION
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+$Format:%h %d$
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
deleted file mode 100644
index 8e63abc56e66120a82a4f66d3d0a0cf4c0c19dd2..0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
--- a/VERSION
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-1.8-rc2