diff --git a/.git-archive-version b/.git-archive-version
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..15db4cfd4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.git-archive-version
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+# Becomes like v2.13.0-555-g11e37a0bd if git-archived, is kept as-is otherwise
+$Format:%(describe)$
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
index a6ab5f7a5..398024b46 100644
--- a/.gitattributes
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -1,2 +1,5 @@
 debian/ export-ignore
 .gitattributes export-ignore
+
+# Include version information on `git archive'
+/.git-archive-version export-subst
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index fce41f411..43079de67 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -105,8 +105,14 @@ string(SUBSTRING ${SPEC_VERSION} 9 ${SPEC_VERSION_LENGTH} SPEC_VERSION)
 
 configure_file(icinga-spec-version.h.cmake icinga-spec-version.h)
 
-include(GetGitRevisionDescription)
-git_describe(GIT_VERSION --tags)
+file(STRINGS .git-archive-version GIT_ARCHIVE_VERSION REGEX "^[^#]")
+if(GIT_ARCHIVE_VERSION MATCHES "Format")
+  include(GetGitRevisionDescription)
+  git_describe(GIT_VERSION --tags)
+else()
+  set(GIT_VERSION "${GIT_ARCHIVE_VERSION}")
+endif()
+
 if(EXISTS ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/icinga-version.h.force)
   configure_file(icinga-version.h.force ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/icinga-version.h COPYONLY)
 else()