diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 3fcdd03854..7e2e94eb65 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -6,6 +6,15 @@ endif ()
 
 project (rippled)
 
+# make GIT_COMMIT_HASH define available to all sources
+find_package(Git)
+if(Git_FOUND)
+    execute_process(COMMAND ${GIT_EXECUTABLE} describe --always --abbrev=40
+        OUTPUT_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE OUTPUT_VARIABLE GIT_COMMIT_HASH)
+    message(STATUS gch: ${GIT_COMMIT_HASH})
+    add_definitions(-DGIT_COMMIT_HASH="${GIT_COMMIT_HASH}")
+endif() #git
+
 list(APPEND CMAKE_MODULE_PATH "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/Builds/CMake")
 list(APPEND CMAKE_MODULE_PATH "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/Builds/CMake/deps")
 
diff --git a/src/ripple/protocol/impl/BuildInfo.cpp b/src/ripple/protocol/impl/BuildInfo.cpp
index 882884ba70..557b21f90f 100644
--- a/src/ripple/protocol/impl/BuildInfo.cpp
+++ b/src/ripple/protocol/impl/BuildInfo.cpp
@@ -37,6 +37,9 @@ char const* const versionString = "1.8.1"
 // clang-format on
 
 #if defined(DEBUG) || defined(SANITIZER)
+#ifdef GIT_COMMIT_HASH
+    "-" GIT_COMMIT_HASH
+#endif
     "+"
 #ifdef DEBUG
     "DEBUG"