diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 678f6396..4717a986 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -15,3 +15,4 @@ run_tests.err.log
 .tox
 doc/source/api
 *.egg
+glanceclient/versioninfo
diff --git a/MANIFEST.in b/MANIFEST.in
index 4e1dcfab..d08d1fcb 100644
--- a/MANIFEST.in
+++ b/MANIFEST.in
@@ -4,5 +4,6 @@ include LICENSE
 include ChangeLog
 include run_tests.sh
 include openstack-common.conf tox.ini
+include glanceclient/versioninfo
 recursive-include tests *
 recursive-include tools *
diff --git a/glanceclient/openstack/common/setup.py b/glanceclient/openstack/common/setup.py
index 429ba35c..e9cd3400 100644
--- a/glanceclient/openstack/common/setup.py
+++ b/glanceclient/openstack/common/setup.py
@@ -19,9 +19,11 @@
 Utilities with minimum-depends for use in setup.py
 """
 
+import datetime
 import os
 import re
 import subprocess
+import sys
 
 from setuptools.command import sdist
 
@@ -33,8 +35,7 @@ def parse_mailmap(mailmap='.mailmap'):
         for l in fp:
             l = l.strip()
             if not l.startswith('#') and ' ' in l:
-                canonical_email, alias = [x for x in l.split(' ')
-                                          if x.startswith('<')]
+                canonical_email, alias = l.split(' ')
                 mapping[alias] = canonical_email
     return mapping
 
@@ -76,6 +77,10 @@ def parse_requirements(requirements_files=['requirements.txt',
         # -f lines are for index locations, and don't get used here
         elif re.match(r'\s*-f\s+', line):
             pass
+        # argparse is part of the standard library starting with 2.7
+        # adding it to the requirements list screws distro installs
+        elif line == 'argparse' and sys.version_info >= (2, 7):
+            pass
         else:
             requirements.append(line)
 
@@ -113,28 +118,54 @@ def write_requirements():
 def _run_shell_command(cmd):
     output = subprocess.Popen(["/bin/sh", "-c", cmd],
                               stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
-    return output.communicate()[0].strip()
+    out = output.communicate()
+    if len(out) == 0:
+        return None
+    if len(out[0].strip()) == 0:
+        return None
+    return out[0].strip()
 
 
-def write_vcsversion(location):
-    """Produce a vcsversion dict that mimics the old one produced by bzr.
-    """
-    if os.path.isdir('.git'):
-        branch_nick_cmd = 'git branch | grep -Ei "\* (.*)" | cut -f2 -d" "'
-        branch_nick = _run_shell_command(branch_nick_cmd)
-        revid_cmd = "git rev-parse HEAD"
-        revid = _run_shell_command(revid_cmd).split()[0]
-        revno_cmd = "git log --oneline | wc -l"
-        revno = _run_shell_command(revno_cmd)
-        with open(location, 'w') as version_file:
-            version_file.write("""
-# This file is automatically generated by setup.py, So don't edit it. :)
-version_info = {
-    'branch_nick': '%s',
-    'revision_id': '%s',
-    'revno': %s
-}
-""" % (branch_nick, revid, revno))
+def _get_git_next_version_suffix(branch_name):
+    datestamp = datetime.datetime.now().strftime('%Y%m%d')
+    if branch_name == 'milestone-proposed':
+        revno_prefix = "r"
+    else:
+        revno_prefix = ""
+    _run_shell_command("git fetch origin +refs/meta/*:refs/remotes/meta/*")
+    milestone_cmd = "git show meta/openstack/release:%s" % branch_name
+    milestonever = _run_shell_command(milestone_cmd)
+    if not milestonever:
+        milestonever = ""
+    post_version = _get_git_post_version()
+    revno = post_version.split(".")[-1]
+    return "%s~%s.%s%s" % (milestonever, datestamp, revno_prefix, revno)
+
+
+def _get_git_current_tag():
+    return _run_shell_command("git tag --contains HEAD")
+
+
+def _get_git_tag_info():
+    return _run_shell_command("git describe --tags")
+
+
+def _get_git_post_version():
+    current_tag = _get_git_current_tag()
+    if current_tag is not None:
+        return current_tag
+    else:
+        tag_info = _get_git_tag_info()
+        if tag_info is None:
+            base_version = "0.0"
+            cmd = "git --no-pager log --oneline"
+            out = _run_shell_command(cmd)
+            revno = len(out.split("\n"))
+        else:
+            tag_infos = tag_info.split("-")
+            base_version = "-".join(tag_infos[:-2])
+            revno = tag_infos[-2]
+        return "%s.%s" % (base_version, revno)
 
 
 def write_git_changelog():
@@ -174,6 +205,11 @@ _rst_template = """%(heading)s
 """
 
 
+def write_versioninfo(project, version):
+    """Write a simple file containing the version of the package."""
+    open(os.path.join(project, 'versioninfo'), 'w').write("%s\n" % version)
+
+
 def get_cmdclass():
     """Return dict of commands to run from setup.py."""
 
@@ -250,3 +286,44 @@ def get_cmdclass():
         pass
 
     return cmdclass
+
+
+def get_git_branchname():
+    for branch in _run_shell_command("git branch --color=never").split("\n"):
+        if branch.startswith('*'):
+            _branch_name = branch.split()[1].strip()
+    if _branch_name == "(no":
+        _branch_name = "no-branch"
+    return _branch_name
+
+
+def get_pre_version(projectname, base_version):
+    """Return a version which is based"""
+    if os.path.isdir('.git'):
+        current_tag = _get_git_current_tag()
+        if current_tag is not None:
+            version = current_tag
+        else:
+            branch_name = os.getenv('BRANCHNAME',
+                                    os.getenv('GERRIT_REFNAME',
+                                              get_git_branchname()))
+            version_suffix = _get_git_next_version_suffix(branch_name)
+            version = "%s~%s" % (base_version, version_suffix)
+        write_versioninfo(projectname, version)
+        return version.split('~')[0]
+    else:
+        with open(os.path.join(projectname, 'versioninfo'), 'r') as vinfo:
+            full_version = vinfo.read().strip()
+            return full_version.split('~')[0]
+
+
+def get_post_version(projectname):
+    """Return a version which is equal to the tag that's on the current
+    revision if there is one, or tag plus number of additional revisions
+    if the current revision has no tag."""
+
+    if os.path.isdir('.git'):
+        version = _get_git_post_version()
+        write_versioninfo(projectname, version)
+        return version
+    return open(os.path.join(projectname, 'versioninfo'), 'r').read().strip()
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 935fc63a..e83c2445 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ def read(fname):
 
 setuptools.setup(
     name="python-glanceclient",
-    version="2012.2",
+    version=setup.get_post_version('glanceclient'),
     description="Client library for OpenStack Image API",
     long_description=read('README.rst'),
     url='https://github.com/openstack/python-glanceclient',