diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 11a52f9..5c74f72 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+VERSION = $(shell git describe --tags)
+
 all: build
 	./guireleaser
 
@@ -14,7 +16,8 @@ build:
 	echo "build it!"
 	-rm resources/*.so
 	cp -a ~/go/src/go.wit.com/toolkits/*.so resources/
-	GO111MODULE=off go build -v -x
+	GO111MODULE=off go build -v -x -ldflags " \
+                -X main.VERSION=${VERSION}"
 
 install:
 	rm -f ~/go/src/go.wit.com/toolkits/*.so
@@ -28,4 +31,3 @@ redomod:
 	rm -f go.*
 	GO111MODULE= go mod init
 	GO111MODULE= go mod tidy
-
diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index 5cc270d..fd1d091 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ import (
 	"go.wit.com/log"
 )
 
+var VERSION string
+
 // TODO: autocompute these in the gui
 var releaseReasonS string
 var releaseVersion string
@@ -41,7 +43,7 @@ func main() {
 	me.myGui.Default()
 
 	// our main window
-	me.mainWindow = me.myGui.NewWindow("GUI release manager")
+	me.mainWindow = me.myGui.NewWindow("GUI release manager " + VERSION)
 	me.mainBox = me.mainWindow.NewBox("bw hbox", true)
 
 	// sanity check of things that might be around that mess