diff --git a/library/CMakeLists.txt b/library/CMakeLists.txt
index 759cb10b0..17bba7c87 100644
--- a/library/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/library/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -257,6 +257,14 @@ SET_PROPERTY(TARGET dfhack-version APPEND PROPERTY COMPILE_DEFINITIONS
     DFHACK_RELEASE="${DFHACK_RELEASE}"
 )
 
+ADD_CUSTOM_TARGET(git-describe
+    COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND}
+        -D dfhack_SOURCE_DIR:STRING=${dfhack_SOURCE_DIR}
+        -P ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/git-describe.cmake
+    COMMENT "Obtaining git commit information"
+)
+ADD_DEPENDENCIES(dfhack-version git-describe)
+
 ADD_LIBRARY(dfhack SHARED ${PROJECT_SOURCES})
 ADD_DEPENDENCIES(dfhack generate_headers)
 
diff --git a/library/Core.cpp b/library/Core.cpp
index 2e59b7abe..11af466ce 100644
--- a/library/Core.cpp
+++ b/library/Core.cpp
@@ -1229,6 +1229,8 @@ bool Core::Init()
     if(errorstate)
         return false;
 
+    fprintf(stderr, "DFHack build: %s\n", Version::git_description());
+
     // find out what we are...
     #ifdef LINUX_BUILD
         const char * path = "hack/symbols.xml";
diff --git a/library/DFHackVersion.cpp b/library/DFHackVersion.cpp
index 2929201d4..df05779fb 100644
--- a/library/DFHackVersion.cpp
+++ b/library/DFHackVersion.cpp
@@ -1,8 +1,23 @@
 #include "DFHackVersion.h"
+#include "git-describe.h"
+#include "Export.h"
 namespace DFHack {
     namespace Version {
-        const char *dfhack_version() { return DFHACK_VERSION; }
-        const char *df_version()     { return DF_VERSION; }
-        const char *dfhack_release() { return DFHACK_RELEASE; }
+        const char *dfhack_version()
+        {
+            return DFHACK_VERSION;
+        }
+        const char *df_version()
+        {
+            return DF_VERSION;
+        }
+        const char *dfhack_release()
+        {
+            return DFHACK_RELEASE;
+        }
+        const char *git_description()
+        {
+            return DFHACK_GIT_DESCRIPTION;
+        }
     }
 }
diff --git a/library/PluginManager.cpp b/library/PluginManager.cpp
index e6510eacf..e1ef64586 100644
--- a/library/PluginManager.cpp
+++ b/library/PluginManager.cpp
@@ -230,10 +230,13 @@ bool Plugin::load(color_ostream &con)
     plugin_check_symbol("plugin_self")
     plugin_check_symbol("plugin_init")
     plugin_check_symbol("plugin_globals")
+    plugin_check_symbol("git_description")
     const char ** plug_name =(const char ** ) LookupPlugin(plug, "name");
     const char ** plug_version =(const char ** ) LookupPlugin(plug, "version");
+    const char ** plug_git_description = (const char**) LookupPlugin(plug, "git_description");
     Plugin **plug_self = (Plugin**)LookupPlugin(plug, "plugin_self");
     const char *dfhack_version = Version::dfhack_version();
+    const char *dfhack_git_desc = Version::git_description();
     if (strcmp(dfhack_version, *plug_version) != 0)
     {
         con.printerr("Plugin %s was not built for this version of DFHack.\n"
@@ -241,6 +244,9 @@ bool Plugin::load(color_ostream &con)
         plugin_abort_load;
         return false;
     }
+    if (strcmp(dfhack_git_desc, *plug_git_description) != 0)
+        con.printerr("Warning: Plugin %s compiled for DFHack %s, running DFHack %s\n",
+            *plug_name, *plug_git_description, dfhack_git_desc);
     bool *plug_dev = (bool*)LookupPlugin(plug, "plugin_dev");
     if (plug_dev && *plug_dev && getenv("DFHACK_NO_DEV_PLUGINS"))
     {
diff --git a/library/git-describe.cmake b/library/git-describe.cmake
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1e4940674
--- /dev/null
+++ b/library/git-describe.cmake
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+execute_process(COMMAND git describe --tags
+    WORKING_DIRECTORY "${dfhack_SOURCE_DIR}"
+    OUTPUT_VARIABLE DFHACK_GIT_DESCRIPTION)
+string(STRIP ${DFHACK_GIT_DESCRIPTION} DFHACK_GIT_DESCRIPTION)
+file(WRITE ${dfhack_SOURCE_DIR}/library/include/git-describe.tmp.h
+    "#define DFHACK_GIT_DESCRIPTION \"${DFHACK_GIT_DESCRIPTION}\"")
+execute_process(COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E copy_if_different
+    ${dfhack_SOURCE_DIR}/library/include/git-describe.tmp.h
+    ${dfhack_SOURCE_DIR}/library/include/git-describe.h)
diff --git a/library/include/.gitignore b/library/include/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..24dcd1482
--- /dev/null
+++ b/library/include/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+git-describe.*
diff --git a/library/include/DFHackVersion.h b/library/include/DFHackVersion.h
index 4bfbd85dd..aa528ccbb 100644
--- a/library/include/DFHackVersion.h
+++ b/library/include/DFHackVersion.h
@@ -4,5 +4,6 @@ namespace DFHack {
         const char *dfhack_version();
         const char *df_version();
         const char *dfhack_release();
+        const char *git_description();
     }
 }
diff --git a/library/include/PluginManager.h b/library/include/PluginManager.h
index 2bd094e9c..680262bad 100644
--- a/library/include/PluginManager.h
+++ b/library/include/PluginManager.h
@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@ namespace DFHack
 
     namespace Version {
         const char *dfhack_version();
+        const char *git_description();
     }
 
     // anon type, pretty much
@@ -289,6 +290,7 @@ namespace DFHack
 #define DFHACK_PLUGIN_AUX(plugin_name, is_dev) \
     DFhackDataExport const char * name = plugin_name;\
     DFhackDataExport const char * version = DFHack::Version::dfhack_version();\
+    DFhackDataExport const char * git_description = DFHack::Version::git_description();\
     DFhackDataExport Plugin *plugin_self = NULL;\
     std::vector<std::string> _plugin_globals;\
     DFhackDataExport std::vector<std::string>* plugin_globals = &_plugin_globals; \