diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..99e2a4e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+.coverage
+*.pyc
+build
+dist
+doc/_build
+geopandas.egg-info
+geopandas/version.py
diff --git a/geopandas/__init__.py b/geopandas/__init__.py
index 7985648..c283648 100644
--- a/geopandas/__init__.py
+++ b/geopandas/__init__.py
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
+from geopandas.version import version as __version__
 from geoseries import GeoSeries
 from geodataframe import GeoDataFrame
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index f94aab9..51736f3 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -1,3 +1,12 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env/python
+"""Installation script
+
+Version handling borrowed from pandas project.
+"""
+
+import os
+import warnings
+
 try:
     from setuptools import setup
 except ImportError:
@@ -17,8 +26,55 @@ such as PostGIS.
 .. _shapely: http://toblerity.github.io/shapely
 """
 
+MAJOR = 0
+MINOR = 1
+MICRO = 0
+ISRELEASED = False
+VERSION = '%d.%d.%d' % (MAJOR, MINOR, MICRO)
+QUALIFIER = ''
+
+FULLVERSION = VERSION
+if not ISRELEASED:
+    FULLVERSION += '.dev'
+    try:
+        import subprocess
+        try:
+            pipe = subprocess.Popen(["git", "rev-parse", "--short", "HEAD"],
+                                    stdout=subprocess.PIPE).stdout
+        except OSError:
+            # msysgit compatibility
+            pipe = subprocess.Popen(
+                ["git.cmd", "describe", "HEAD"],
+                stdout=subprocess.PIPE).stdout
+        rev = pipe.read().strip()
+
+        FULLVERSION = '%d.%d.%d.dev-%s' % (MAJOR, MINOR, MICRO, rev)
+
+    except:
+        warnings.warn("WARNING: Couldn't get git revision")
+else:
+    FULLVERSION += QUALIFIER
+
+
+def write_version_py(filename=None):
+    cnt = """\
+version = '%s'
+short_version = '%s'
+"""
+    if not filename:
+        filename = os.path.join(
+            os.path.dirname(__file__), 'geopandas', 'version.py')
+
+    a = open(filename, 'w')
+    try:
+        a.write(cnt % (FULLVERSION, VERSION))
+    finally:
+        a.close()
+
+write_version_py()
+
 setup(name='geopandas',
-      version='0.1dev',
+      version=FULLVERSION,
       description='Geographic pandas extensions',
       license='BSD',
       author='Kelsey Jordahl',