diff --git a/gerrit-common/.gitignore b/gerrit-common/.gitignore
index ea79d40f9b..903c6c80f5 100644
--- a/gerrit-common/.gitignore
+++ b/gerrit-common/.gitignore
@@ -2,4 +2,3 @@
 /.classpath
 /.project
 /.settings/org.maven.ide.eclipse.prefs
-/src/main/resources/com/google/gerrit/common/Version.properties
diff --git a/gerrit-common/pom.xml b/gerrit-common/pom.xml
index d261395c3c..69370c391e 100644
--- a/gerrit-common/pom.xml
+++ b/gerrit-common/pom.xml
@@ -67,14 +67,14 @@ limitations under the License.
             <phase>generate-resources</phase>
             <configuration>
               <tasks>
-                <property name="src" location="${basedir}/src/main/resources/" />
-                <property name="pkg" location="${src}/com/google/gerrit/common" />
+                <property name="dst" location="${project.build.outputDirectory}" />
+                <property name="pkg" location="${dst}/com/google/gerrit/common" />
                 <mkdir dir="${pkg}" />
                 <exec executable="git" outputproperty="v">
                   <arg value="describe"/>
                   <arg value="HEAD"/>
                 </exec>
-                <echo file="${pkg}/Version.properties">version=${v}</echo>
+                <echo file="${pkg}/Version">${v}</echo>
               </tasks>
             </configuration>
             <goals>
diff --git a/gerrit-gwtui/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/common/Version.java b/gerrit-common/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/common/ClientVersion.java
similarity index 71%
rename from gerrit-gwtui/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/common/Version.java
rename to gerrit-common/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/common/ClientVersion.java
index d831c7158e..42ee5dd3d9 100644
--- a/gerrit-gwtui/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/common/Version.java
+++ b/gerrit-common/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/common/ClientVersion.java
@@ -14,13 +14,11 @@
 
 package com.google.gerrit.common;
 
-import com.google.gwt.i18n.client.Constants;
+import com.google.gwt.resources.client.ClientBundle;
+import com.google.gwt.resources.client.TextResource;
 
-/**
- * Automatically generated version code.
- * <p>
- * Do not translate this constants interface.
- */
-public interface Version extends Constants {
-  String version();
+public interface ClientVersion extends ClientBundle {
+  /** Version number of this client software build. */
+  @Source("Version")
+  TextResource version();
 }
diff --git a/gerrit-gwtui/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/client/Gerrit.java b/gerrit-gwtui/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/client/Gerrit.java
index 27695c37c5..959eb79dfe 100644
--- a/gerrit-gwtui/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/client/Gerrit.java
+++ b/gerrit-gwtui/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/client/Gerrit.java
@@ -20,8 +20,8 @@ import com.google.gerrit.client.rpc.GerritCallback;
 import com.google.gerrit.client.ui.LinkMenuBar;
 import com.google.gerrit.client.ui.LinkMenuItem;
 import com.google.gerrit.client.ui.Screen;
+import com.google.gerrit.common.ClientVersion;
 import com.google.gerrit.common.PageLinks;
-import com.google.gerrit.common.Version;
 import com.google.gerrit.common.auth.SignInMode;
 import com.google.gerrit.common.data.GerritConfig;
 import com.google.gerrit.common.data.HostPageData;
@@ -65,7 +65,6 @@ public class Gerrit implements EntryPoint {
   public static final SystemInfoService SYSTEM_SVC;
 
   private static String myHost;
-  private static String myVersion;
   private static GerritConfig myConfig;
   private static Account myAccount;
 
@@ -322,25 +321,22 @@ public class Gerrit implements EntryPoint {
     keyHelp.setStyleName(RESOURCES.css().keyhelp());
     btmmenu.add(keyHelp);
 
-    final String vs = getVersion();
+    String vs;
+    if (GWT.isScript()) {
+      final ClientVersion v = GWT.create(ClientVersion.class);
+      vs = v.version().getText();
+      if (vs.startsWith("v")) {
+        vs = vs.substring(1);
+      }
+    } else {
+      vs = "dev";
+    }
+
     final HTML version = new HTML(M.poweredBy(vs));
     version.setStyleName(RESOURCES.css().version());
     btmmenu.add(version);
   }
 
-  /** @return version number of the Gerrit application software */
-  public static String getVersion() {
-    if (myVersion == null) {
-      if (GWT.isScript()) {
-        final Version v = GWT.create(Version.class);
-        myVersion = v.version();
-      } else {
-        myVersion = "dev";
-      }
-    }
-    return myVersion;
-  }
-
   private void onModuleLoad2(final RootPanel starting) {
     refreshMenuBar();
 
diff --git a/gerrit-server/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/common/Version.java b/gerrit-server/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/common/Version.java
index b4c5e7b872..8ad4d48509 100644
--- a/gerrit-server/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/common/Version.java
+++ b/gerrit-server/src/main/java/com/google/gerrit/common/Version.java
@@ -14,9 +14,10 @@
 
 package com.google.gerrit.common;
 
+import java.io.BufferedReader;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
-import java.util.Properties;
+import java.io.InputStreamReader;
 
 public class Version {
   private static final String version;
@@ -30,18 +31,24 @@ public class Version {
   }
 
   private static String loadVersion() {
-    InputStream in = Version.class.getResourceAsStream("Version.properties");
+    InputStream in = Version.class.getResourceAsStream("Version");
     if (in == null) {
       return null;
     }
     try {
-      final Properties p = new Properties();
+      BufferedReader r = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(in, "UTF-8"));
       try {
-        p.load(in);
+        String vs = r.readLine();
+        if (vs != null && vs.startsWith("v")) {
+          vs = vs.substring(1);
+        }
+        if (vs != null && vs.isEmpty()) {
+          vs = null;
+        }
+        return vs;
       } finally {
-        in.close();
+        r.close();
       }
-      return p.getProperty("version");
     } catch (IOException e) {
       return null;
     }