diff --git a/build-uberjar b/build-uberjar
index 61a4a3395be9007e83ff640b8b24649984945af1..debfed992ce61980ce296ff1f99bc20853ef799d 100755
--- a/build-uberjar
+++ b/build-uberjar
@@ -5,16 +5,13 @@ version() {
     # Skip on CircleCI since this is interactive
     if [ ! $CI ]; then
         VERSION=$(./version)
+        SHORT_VERSION=$(./version --short)
 
-        read -e -p "What version string we use for this uberjar? [$VERSION] " VERSION_RESPONSE
-        if [ "$VERSION_RESPONSE" ]; then
-            VERSION="$VERSION_RESPONSE"
-        fi
-
-        echo "Tagging uberjar with version '$VERSION'."
+        echo "Tagging uberjar with version '$VERSION'..."
 
         # Ok, now generate the appropriate version.properties file.
-        echo "version=$VERSION" > resources/version.properties
+        echo "long=$VERSION" > resources/version.properties
+        echo "short=$SHORT_VERSION" >> resources/version.properties
     fi
 }
 
diff --git a/src/metabase/config.clj b/src/metabase/config.clj
index 36b578850994927117ccbaa90eec1428296efd7b..45aa07d22759672c8077bd0f1713459499d60a6a 100644
--- a/src/metabase/config.clj
+++ b/src/metabase/config.clj
@@ -76,25 +76,23 @@
 ;;; Version stuff
 ;; Metabase version is of the format `GIT-TAG (GIT-SHORT-HASH GIT-BRANCH)`
 
-(defn- mb-version-from-shell-script
-  "Build a Metabase version string by calling the `./version` shell script, which generates the string from the git tag, hash, and branch."
-  []
-  (-> (shell/sh "./version") :out s/trim))
+(defn- version-info-from-shell-script []
+  {:long  (-> (shell/sh "./version")           :out s/trim)
+   :short (-> (shell/sh "./version" "--short") :out s/trim)})
 
-(defn- mb-version-from-file
-  "Look up the Metabase version string from the `version.properties` file (this is generated by `./build_uberjar`)."
-  []
+(defn- version-info-from-properties-file []
   (with-open [reader (io/reader "resources/version.properties")]
     (let [props (java.util.Properties.)]
       (.load props reader)
-      (get props "version"))))
+      (into {} (for [[k v] props]
+                 [(keyword k) v])))))
 
-(defn mb-version
-  "Return a string used to identify the current version of Metabase.
-   This comes from `resources/version.properties` for prod builds and is fetched directly from git for dev.
+(defn mb-version-info
+  "Return information about the current version of Metabase.
+   This comes from `resources/version.properties` for prod builds and is fetched from `git` via the `./version` script for dev.
 
-     (mb-version) -> \"v0.11.1 (6509c49 master)\"."
+     (mb-version) -> {:long \"v0.11.1 (6509c49 master)\", :short \"v0.11.1\"}"
   []
   (if (is-prod?)
-    (mb-version-from-file)
-    (mb-version-from-shell-script)))
+    (version-info-from-properties-file)
+    (version-info-from-shell-script)))
diff --git a/src/metabase/routes.clj b/src/metabase/routes.clj
index 44dd68f9acb6f319b6a16eb451bf97db10839970..a35a6aa9754c50ad8fbbde9691214b434ea80b4f 100644
--- a/src/metabase/routes.clj
+++ b/src/metabase/routes.clj
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@
    :password_complexity   (metabase.util.password/active-password-complexity)
    :setup_token           (setup/token-value)
    :timezones             metabase.models.common/timezones
-   :version               (config/mb-version)
+   :version               (config/mb-version-info)
    ;; all of these values are dynamic settings from the admin UI but we include them here for bootstrapping availability
    :anon-tracking-enabled (setting/get :anon-tracking-enabled)
    :-site-name            (setting/get :-site-name)})
diff --git a/version b/version
index 5b829800d1c24f86e42f53a01c59b8473c29e773..c5680f048cd11dacc61aa1a19e2dd4551b0f3c0b 100755
--- a/version
+++ b/version
@@ -5,4 +5,11 @@
 TAG=$(git describe origin/master --tags --abbrev=0)
 HASH=$(git show-ref --head --hash=7 head)            # first 7 letters of hash should be enough; that's what GitHub uses
 BRANCH=$(git symbolic-ref --short HEAD)
-echo "$TAG ($HASH $BRANCH)"
+
+# ./version           -> v0.11.1 (346cbe2 master)
+# ./version --short   -> v0.11.1
+if [ "$1" == "--short" ]; then
+    echo "$TAG"
+else
+    echo "$TAG ($HASH $BRANCH)"
+fi