diff --git a/s/build b/s/build
index b59804626..f471229b8 100755
--- a/s/build
+++ b/s/build
@@ -1,8 +1,5 @@
 #!/bin/sh
-ROOT=`pwd`
-while [ ! -d $ROOT/.git ]; do
-  ROOT=`dirname $ROOT`
-done
+ROOT=$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)
 
 [ -z "$BUILD" ] && BUILD=Debug
 if [ -z "$JOBS" ] ; then
@@ -37,7 +34,13 @@ git submodule update
 
 echo "build eressea"
 cd $ROOT/$BUILD
+BRANCH=$(git status -s -b | head -1 | cut -d\  -f 2 | sed 's/\..*//')
+if [ "$BRANCH" == "master" ] ; then
 VERSION=$(git describe --match 'v*.*.*' --tags | sed 's/^v//')
 cmake -DERESSEA_VERSION="$VERSION" ..
+else
+REV=$(git rev-parse --short HEAD)
+cmake -DERESSEA_BUILDNO="$REV-$BUILD" ..
+fi
 make $MAKEOPTS && make test
 cd $OLDPWD
diff --git a/s/cmake-init b/s/cmake-init
index ea94afb7c..370725a4d 100755
--- a/s/cmake-init
+++ b/s/cmake-init
@@ -1,13 +1,6 @@
 #!/bin/sh
-ROOT=$(pwd)
-while [ ! -d $ROOT/.git ]; do
-  ROOT=$(dirname $ROOT)
-  if [ "$ROOT" == "/" ; then
-    echo "could not find root, are you in the git repository?"
-    exit
-  fi
-done
 
+ROOT=$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)
 [ -z $BUILD ] && BUILD=Debug
 [ -z "$CC" ] && [ ! -z `which clang` ] && CC="clang"
 [ -z "$CC" ] && [ ! -z `which gcc` ] && CC="gcc"
diff --git a/s/runtests b/s/runtests
index e0e20b5c7..58498436f 100755
--- a/s/runtests
+++ b/s/runtests
@@ -1,11 +1,7 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 set -e
 
-ROOT=$(pwd)
-while [ ! -d $ROOT/.git ]; do
-  ROOT=$(dirname $ROOT)
-done
-
+ROOT=$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)
 [ -z $BUILD ] && BUILD=Debug ; export BUILD
 
 if [ ! -e $ROOT/$BUILD ]; then
diff --git a/src/kernel/version.c b/src/kernel/version.c
index 6de6ddb40..45b9815bc 100644
--- a/src/kernel/version.c
+++ b/src/kernel/version.c
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 
 #ifndef ERESSEA_VERSION
 // the version number, if it was not passed to make with -D
-#define ERESSEA_VERSION "3.10.0-devel"
+#define ERESSEA_VERSION "3.10.0"
 #endif
 
 const char *eressea_version(void) {