diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index e75d41f4..5a0e17c3 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ foreach(p
   endif()
 endforeach()
 
-project (benchmark CXX)
+project (benchmark VERSION 1.5.3 LANGUAGES CXX)
 
 option(BENCHMARK_ENABLE_TESTING "Enable testing of the benchmark library." ON)
 option(BENCHMARK_ENABLE_EXCEPTIONS "Enable the use of exceptions in the benchmark library." ON)
@@ -94,8 +94,14 @@ list(APPEND CMAKE_MODULE_PATH "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/cmake")
 include(GetGitVersion)
 get_git_version(GIT_VERSION)
 
+# If no git version can be determined, use the version
+# from the project() command
+if ("${GIT_VERSION}" STREQUAL "0.0.0")
+  set(VERSION "${benchmark_VERSION}")
+else()
+  set(VERSION "${GIT_VERSION}")
+endif()
 # Tell the user what versions we are using
-string(REGEX MATCH "[0-9]+\\.[0-9]+\\.[0-9]+" VERSION ${GIT_VERSION})
 message(STATUS "Version: ${VERSION}")
 
 # The version of the libraries
diff --git a/cmake/GetGitVersion.cmake b/cmake/GetGitVersion.cmake
index 4f10f226..04a1f9b7 100644
--- a/cmake/GetGitVersion.cmake
+++ b/cmake/GetGitVersion.cmake
@@ -20,16 +20,20 @@ set(__get_git_version INCLUDED)
 
 function(get_git_version var)
   if(GIT_EXECUTABLE)
-      execute_process(COMMAND ${GIT_EXECUTABLE} describe --match "v[0-9]*.[0-9]*.[0-9]*" --abbrev=8
+      execute_process(COMMAND ${GIT_EXECUTABLE} describe --tags --match "v[0-9]*.[0-9]*.[0-9]*" --abbrev=8
           WORKING_DIRECTORY ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}
           RESULT_VARIABLE status
-          OUTPUT_VARIABLE GIT_VERSION
+          OUTPUT_VARIABLE GIT_DESCRIBE_VERSION
           ERROR_QUIET)
-      if(${status})
-          set(GIT_VERSION "v0.0.0")
+      if(status)
+          set(GIT_DESCRIBE_VERSION "v0.0.0")
+      endif()
+      
+      string(STRIP ${GIT_DESCRIBE_VERSION} GIT_DESCRIBE_VERSION)
+      if(GIT_DESCRIBE_VERSION MATCHES v[^-]*-) 
+         string(REGEX REPLACE "v([^-]*)-([0-9]+)-.*" "\\1.\\2"  GIT_VERSION ${GIT_DESCRIBE_VERSION})
       else()
-          string(STRIP ${GIT_VERSION} GIT_VERSION)
-          string(REGEX REPLACE "-[0-9]+-g" "-" GIT_VERSION ${GIT_VERSION})
+         string(REGEX REPLACE "v(.*)" "\\1" GIT_VERSION ${GIT_DESCRIBE_VERSION})
       endif()
 
       # Work out if the repository is dirty
@@ -43,12 +47,12 @@ function(get_git_version var)
           ERROR_QUIET)
       string(COMPARE NOTEQUAL "${GIT_DIFF_INDEX}" "" GIT_DIRTY)
       if (${GIT_DIRTY})
-          set(GIT_VERSION "${GIT_VERSION}-dirty")
+          set(GIT_DESCRIBE_VERSION "${GIT_DESCRIBE_VERSION}-dirty")
       endif()
+      message(STATUS "git version: ${GIT_DESCRIBE_VERSION} normalized to ${GIT_VERSION}")
   else()
-      set(GIT_VERSION "v0.0.0")
+      set(GIT_VERSION "0.0.0")
   endif()
 
-  message(STATUS "git Version: ${GIT_VERSION}")
   set(${var} ${GIT_VERSION} PARENT_SCOPE)
 endfunction()
diff --git a/docs/releasing.md b/docs/releasing.md
index f0cd7010..9e16ff2d 100644
--- a/docs/releasing.md
+++ b/docs/releasing.md
@@ -8,6 +8,12 @@
     * `git log $(git describe --abbrev=0 --tags)..HEAD` gives you the list of
       commits between the last annotated tag and HEAD
     * Pick the most interesting.
+* Create one last commit that updates the version saved in `CMakeLists.txt` to the release version you're creating. (This version will be used if benchmark is installed from the archive you'll be creating in the next step.)
+
+```
+project (benchmark VERSION 1.5.3 LANGUAGES CXX)
+```
+
 * Create a release through github's interface
     * Note this will create a lightweight tag.
     * Update this to an annotated tag: