diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index f7237230..29ce5e4c 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -34,6 +34,15 @@ elseif ("${ENABLE_COMPILE_FLAGS_FOR_TARGET}" STREQUAL "armv8-neon")
     add_definitions(-mfpu=neon-fp-armv8 -ftree-vectorize)
 endif()
 
+# Source package generation setup.
+set(CPACK_GENERATOR "TXZ")
+set(CPACK_PACKAGE_FILE_NAME "libcamera-apps-build")
+set(CPACK_SOURCE_GENERATOR "TXZ")
+set(CPACK_INSTALL_SCRIPTS ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/package.cmake)
+set(CPACK_SOURCE_PACKAGE_FILE_NAME "libcamera-apps-src")
+set(CPACK_SOURCE_IGNORE_FILES "/\.git*;/build;")
+include(CPack)
+
 find_package(PkgConfig REQUIRED)
 
 pkg_check_modules(LIBCAMERA REQUIRED libcamera)
diff --git a/core/CMakeLists.txt b/core/CMakeLists.txt
index f84a6340..2562e829 100644
--- a/core/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/core/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ include(GNUInstallDirs)
 
 find_package(Boost REQUIRED COMPONENTS program_options)
 
-add_custom_target(VersionCpp ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -DVERSION_SHA=${VERSION_SHA} -P ${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/version.cmake)
+add_custom_target(VersionCpp ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -DSOURCE_DIR=${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR} -P ${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/version.cmake)
 set_source_files_properties(version.cpp PROPERTIES GENERATED 1)
 
 add_library(libcamera_app libcamera_app.cpp post_processor.cpp version.cpp)
diff --git a/core/version.cmake b/core/version.cmake
index 893497be..44ad4a6d 100644
--- a/core/version.cmake
+++ b/core/version.cmake
@@ -1,9 +1,13 @@
 # Script to generate a version string and embed it in the version.cpp source file
 
-if (NOT VERSION_SHA STREQUAL "")
-    message("Using user supplied version sha: " ${VERSION_SHA})
+if (EXISTS ${SOURCE_DIR}/version.gen)
+    message("Reading version string from version.gen")
+    file(READ ${SOURCE_DIR}/version.gen SHA)
 endif()
 
-execute_process(COMMAND ${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/version.py ${VERSION_SHA} OUTPUT_VARIABLE VER)
-message("Generating version string: " ${VER})
+execute_process(COMMAND ${SOURCE_DIR}/core/version.py ${SHA}
+                WORKING_DIRECTORY ${SOURCE_DIR}
+                OUTPUT_VARIABLE VER)
+
 configure_file(${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/version.cpp.in version.cpp @ONLY)
+message("Generating version string: " ${VER})
diff --git a/core/version.py b/core/version.py
index 264a24f9..5435c314 100755
--- a/core/version.py
+++ b/core/version.py
@@ -20,12 +20,12 @@ def generate_version():
                 raise RuntimeError('Invalid git directory!')
 
             # Get commit id
-            r = subprocess.run(['git', 'describe', f'--abbrev={digits}', '--always'],
+            r = subprocess.run(['git', 'rev-parse', '--verify', 'HEAD'],
                                stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.DEVNULL, text=True)
             if r.returncode:
                 raise RuntimeError('Invalid git commit!')
 
-            commit = r.stdout.strip('\n') + '-auto'
+            commit = r.stdout.strip('\n')[0:digits] + '-intree'
 
             # Check dirty status
             r = subprocess.run(['git', 'diff-index', '--quiet', 'HEAD'],
@@ -33,10 +33,12 @@ def generate_version():
             if r.returncode:
                 commit = commit + '-dirty'
         else:
-            commit = sys.argv[1][0:digits].rjust(digits, '0').lower()
+            commit = sys.argv[1].lower()
             if any(c not in hexdigits for c in commit):
                 raise RuntimeError('Invalid git sha!')
 
+            commit = commit[0:digits]
+
     except RuntimeError as e:
         print(f'ERR: {e}', file=sys.stderr)
         commit = '0' * digits + '-invalid'
diff --git a/package.cmake b/package.cmake
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d7990602
--- /dev/null
+++ b/package.cmake
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+# Script to generate a version string and save it to the package source root
+
+execute_process(COMMAND git rev-parse HEAD
+                WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}
+                OUTPUT_FILE ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/version.gen)