diff --git a/CMakeScripts/aevol_version.cmake b/CMakeScripts/aevol_version.cmake
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..9519b6ee046fe4f296cf0db7108a4e5e8b33b968
--- /dev/null
+++ b/CMakeScripts/aevol_version.cmake
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+set(AEVOL_REVISION "unknown")
+
+if(EXISTS ${AEVOL_SOURCE_DIR}/.git)
+    execute_process(COMMAND git rev-parse --short HEAD
+        WORKING_DIRECTORY ${AEVOL_SOURCE_DIR}
+        OUTPUT_VARIABLE AEVOL_REVISION_HASH
+        OUTPUT_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE)
+
+    execute_process(COMMAND
+        git status -s ${AEVOL_SOURCE_DIR}
+        WORKING_DIRECTORY ${AEVOL_SOURCE_DIR}
+        OUTPUT_VARIABLE AEVOL_SOURCE_MODIFIED
+        OUTPUT_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE)
+    if(NOT AEVOL_SOURCE_MODIFIED STREQUAL "")
+        set(AEVOL_REVISION_HASH "${AEVOL_REVISION_HASH}-dirty")
+    endif()
+
+    execute_process(COMMAND git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD
+        WORKING_DIRECTORY ${AEVOL_SOURCE_DIR}
+        OUTPUT_VARIABLE AEVOL_BRANCH_NAME
+        OUTPUT_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE)
+
+    execute_process(COMMAND git log -n 1 --pretty=%cD #--date=short
+        WORKING_DIRECTORY ${AEVOL_SOURCE_DIR}
+        OUTPUT_VARIABLE AEVOL_REVISION_DATE
+        OUTPUT_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE)
+
+    # If we wanted to use the compile date instead
+    # However, this makes the build non-reproducible
+    #string(TIMESTAMP AEVOL_COMPILE_DATE "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S")
+
+    set(AEVOL_REVISION "${AEVOL_BRANCH_NAME}, ${AEVOL_REVISION_HASH}, ${AEVOL_REVISION_DATE}")
+
+endif()
+
+if(NOT "${AEVOL_BINARY_DIR}" STREQUAL "")
+    configure_file(${AEVOL_BINARY_DIR}/src/libaevol/aevol_version.cpp.in
+        ${AEVOL_BINARY_DIR}/src/libaevol/aevol_version.cpp)
+endif()
diff --git a/src/aevol_create.cpp b/src/aevol_create.cpp
index 37145726331234a0455dab48df9cd41cce04d3ed..f0e04436a6d7f6b62df52e0d603d38074f1486de 100644
--- a/src/aevol_create.cpp
+++ b/src/aevol_create.cpp
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ const char* DEFAULT_PARAM_FILE_NAME = "param.in";
 #include "ExpManager.h"
 #include "ParamLoader.h"
 
+#include "aevol_version.h"
 
 using namespace aevol;
 
@@ -69,6 +70,9 @@ static IOJson* my_iojson = nullptr;
 int main(int argc, char* argv[]) {
   interpret_cmd_line_options(argc, argv);
 
+  // Print the hash and date of the commit used to compile this executable
+  printf("Running aevol version %s\n", version_string);
+
   if(param_file_name != nullptr) {
     // Create a param loader for the parameter file
     my_param_loader = new ParamLoader(param_file_name);
diff --git a/src/aevol_run.cpp b/src/aevol_run.cpp
index 15ff8f82f154780cb10a2135369c694abc0ef1de..9b4888932af20b24820b1eb268f7063835330d99 100644
--- a/src/aevol_run.cpp
+++ b/src/aevol_run.cpp
@@ -58,6 +58,8 @@
 #include "ExpManager_7.h"
 #include "macros.h"
 
+#include "aevol_version.h"
+
 using namespace aevol;
 
 #ifndef __NO_X
@@ -101,8 +103,12 @@ int main(int argc, char* argv[]) {
     printf("aevol is being run in DEBUG mode\n");
   #endif
 
+
   interpret_cmd_line_options(argc, argv);
 
+  // Print the hash and date of the commit used to compile this executable
+  printf("Running aevol version %s\n", version_string);
+
   // =================================================================
   //                          Load the simulation
   // =================================================================
diff --git a/src/libaevol/CMakeLists.txt b/src/libaevol/CMakeLists.txt
index eff10d79338b1c104de2b71c8008efb8818b57ec..299803f3c6970d314275b2ce46c7ea53f46b51a6 100644
--- a/src/libaevol/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/libaevol/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@ set(aevol_sources
   aevol.h
   macros.h
 
+  aevol_version.h
+
   biochemistry/ae_string.cpp
   biochemistry/ae_string.h
   biochemistry/Alignment.cpp
@@ -202,11 +204,31 @@ if ( ${with-raevol} )
           raevol/Protein_R.h
           raevol/Protein_R.cpp
           raevol/Rna_R.h
-          raevol/Rna_R.cpp 
+          raevol/Rna_R.cpp
 	  #"SIMD_Abstract Metadata.cpp" "SIMD_Abstract Metadata.h" SIMD_Map_Metadata.cpp SIMD_Map_Metadata.h
             raevol/SIMD_PhenotypicTargetHandler_R.cpp raevol/SIMD_PhenotypicTargetHandler_R.h)
 endif ()
 
+# ============================================================================
+# Generate version file aevol_version.cpp
+# ============================================================================
+
+configure_file(aevol_version.cpp.in ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/src/libaevol/aevol_version.cpp.in @ONLY)
+
+# configure further at build time (always built as run_always.txt is never actually created)
+add_custom_command(
+    OUTPUT ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/src/libaevol/aevol_version.cpp run_always.txt
+    COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND}
+        -DAEVOL_DIR=${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}
+        -DAEVOL_SOURCE_DIR=${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}
+        -DAEVOL_BINARY_DIR=${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}
+        -P ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/CMakeScripts/aevol_version.cmake
+    COMMENT "Generating aevol_version.cpp"
+)
+
+list(APPEND aevol_sources
+    ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/src/libaevol/aevol_version.cpp)
+
 add_library(aevol ${aevol_sources})
 
 # ============================================================================
diff --git a/src/libaevol/aevol_version.cpp.in b/src/libaevol/aevol_version.cpp.in
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..60add0718627153bdb42e90b588531ccf777ae5b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/libaevol/aevol_version.cpp.in
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+namespace aevol {
+    char const *version_string = "@PROJECT_VERSION@" " " "(${AEVOL_REVISION})";
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/libaevol/aevol_version.h b/src/libaevol/aevol_version.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..aa845f7e1049ad76e235f58771b9a292f02ee27b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/libaevol/aevol_version.h
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+namespace aevol {
+  extern char const *version_string;
+}
\ No newline at end of file