diff --git a/novaclient/__init__.py b/novaclient/__init__.py
index 2cc5baa6c..dc9ab76da 100644
--- a/novaclient/__init__.py
+++ b/novaclient/__init__.py
@@ -11,23 +11,13 @@
 #   WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the
 #   License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
 #   under the License.
-import inspect
-import os
 
+from novaclient.openstack.common import version
 
-def _get_novaclient_version():
-    """Read version from versioninfo file."""
-    mod_abspath = inspect.getabsfile(inspect.currentframe())
-    novaclient_path = os.path.dirname(mod_abspath)
-    version_path = os.path.join(novaclient_path, 'versioninfo')
-
-    if os.path.exists(version_path):
-        version = open(version_path).read().strip()
-    else:
-        version = "Unknown, couldn't find versioninfo file at %s"\
-                  % version_path
-
-    return version
-
-
-__version__ = _get_novaclient_version()
+version_info = version.VersionInfo('python-novaclient')
+# We have a circular import problem when we first run python setup.py sdist
+# It's harmless, so deflect it.
+try:
+    __version__ = version_info.version_string()
+except AttributeError:
+    __version__ = None
diff --git a/novaclient/openstack/common/version.py b/novaclient/openstack/common/version.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7dc643436
--- /dev/null
+++ b/novaclient/openstack/common/version.py
@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+
+#    Copyright 2012 OpenStack Foundation
+#    Copyright 2012-2013 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
+#
+#    Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
+#    not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain
+#    a copy of the License at
+#
+#         http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+#    Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+#    distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT
+#    WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the
+#    License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
+#    under the License.
+
+"""
+Utilities for consuming the version from pkg_resources.
+"""
+
+import pkg_resources
+
+
+class VersionInfo(object):
+
+    def __init__(self, package):
+        """Object that understands versioning for a package
+        :param package: name of the python package, such as glance, or
+                        python-glanceclient
+        """
+        self.package = package
+        self.release = None
+        self.version = None
+        self._cached_version = None
+
+    def __str__(self):
+        """Make the VersionInfo object behave like a string."""
+        return self.version_string()
+
+    def __repr__(self):
+        """Include the name."""
+        return "VersionInfo(%s:%s)" % (self.package, self.version_string())
+
+    def _get_version_from_pkg_resources(self):
+        """Get the version of the package from the pkg_resources record
+        associated with the package."""
+        try:
+            requirement = pkg_resources.Requirement.parse(self.package)
+            provider = pkg_resources.get_provider(requirement)
+            return provider.version
+        except pkg_resources.DistributionNotFound:
+            # The most likely cause for this is running tests in a tree
+            # produced from a tarball where the package itself has not been
+            # installed into anything. Revert to setup-time logic.
+            from novaclient.openstack.common import setup
+            return setup.get_version(self.package)
+
+    def release_string(self):
+        """Return the full version of the package including suffixes indicating
+        VCS status.
+        """
+        if self.release is None:
+            self.release = self._get_version_from_pkg_resources()
+
+        return self.release
+
+    def version_string(self):
+        """Return the short version minus any alpha/beta tags."""
+        if self.version is None:
+            parts = []
+            for part in self.release_string().split('.'):
+                if part[0].isdigit():
+                    parts.append(part)
+                else:
+                    break
+            self.version = ".".join(parts)
+
+        return self.version
+
+    # Compatibility functions
+    canonical_version_string = version_string
+    version_string_with_vcs = release_string
+
+    def cached_version_string(self, prefix=""):
+        """Generate an object which will expand in a string context to
+        the results of version_string(). We do this so that don't
+        call into pkg_resources every time we start up a program when
+        passing version information into the CONF constructor, but
+        rather only do the calculation when and if a version is requested
+        """
+        if not self._cached_version:
+            self._cached_version = "%s%s" % (prefix,
+                                             self.version_string())
+        return self._cached_version
diff --git a/openstack-common.conf b/openstack-common.conf
index 833c69a16..05e8eb83d 100644
--- a/openstack-common.conf
+++ b/openstack-common.conf
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 [DEFAULT]
 
 # The list of modules to copy from openstack-common
-modules=setup,timeutils,strutils
+modules=setup,timeutils,strutils,version
 
 # The base module to hold the copy of openstack.common
 base=novaclient