diff --git i/cmake/version.cmake w/cmake/version.cmake
index 0ed123b5..4348e7e1 100644
--- i/cmake/version.cmake
+++ w/cmake/version.cmake
@@ -90,41 +90,12 @@ function(determine_version source_dir var_prefix)
   else()
     message(STATUS "Found no version.txt.")
   endif()
-  # for GIT_EXECUTABLE
-  find_package(Git REQUIRED)
-  # get a description of the version, something like:
-  #   v1.9.1-0-g38ffe82        (a tagged release)
-  #   v1.9.1-0-g38ffe82-dirty  (a tagged release with local modifications)
-  #   v1.9.0-3-g5b92266        (post-release snapshot)
-  #   v1.9.0-3-g5b92266-dirty  (post-release snapshot with local modifications)
-  _git(version describe --abbrev=${GIT_REV_LEN} --match "v[0-9]*" --long --dirty)
-  if (NOT _git_ec EQUAL 0)
-    # no annotated tags, fake one
-    message(STATUS "Found no annotated tags.")
-    _git(revision rev-parse --short=${GIT_REV_LEN} --verify HEAD)
-    if (_git_ec EQUAL 0)
-      set(version "v${base_version}-0-g${revision}")
-      # check if dirty (this won't detect untracked files, but should be ok)
-      _git(changes diff-index --quiet HEAD --)
-      if (NOT _git_ec EQUAL 0)
-        string(APPEND version "-dirty")
-      endif()
-      # append the commit timestamp of the most recent commit (only
-      # in non-release branches -- typically master)
-      _git(commit_timestamp show -s --format=%ct)
-      if (_git_ec EQUAL 0)
-        string(APPEND version "+${commit_timestamp}")
-      endif()
-    elseif(has_version_txt)
-      # Nothing to get from git - so use version.txt completely
-      set(version "${version_file}")
-    else()
-      # Sad case - no git, no version.txt
-      set(version "v${base_version}")
-    endif()
+  if(has_version_txt)
+    # Nothing to get from git - so use version.txt completely
+    set(version "${version_file}")
   else()
-    set(has_release_tag YES)
-    message(STATUS "Found annotated tag ${version}")
+    # Sad case - no git, no version.txt
+    set(version "v${base_version}")
   endif()
   extract_version_info("${version}" "${local_prefix}")
   if ("${has_version_txt}" AND NOT ${base_version} STREQUAL ${local_prefix}_VERSION)