diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index 320e1686b2ba..97086204559f 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-2.075.0
+v2.074.1
diff --git a/src/ddmd/globals.d b/src/ddmd/globals.d
index 2921b0638094..b0b3a1fe0ac3 100644
--- a/src/ddmd/globals.d
+++ b/src/ddmd/globals.d
@@ -335,7 +335,7 @@ struct Global
         }
         copyright = "Copyright (c) 1999-2017 by Digital Mars";
         written = "written by Walter Bright";
-        _version = ('v' ~ import("VERSION") ~ '\0').ptr;
+        _version = (import("VERSION") ~ '\0').ptr;
         compiler.vendor = "Digital Mars D";
         stdmsg = stdout;
         main_d = "__main.d";
diff --git a/src/posix.mak b/src/posix.mak
index 803db4df0ef8..bc300f3daddc 100644
--- a/src/posix.mak
+++ b/src/posix.mak
@@ -466,25 +466,20 @@ $G/idgen: $D/idgen.d $(HOST_DMD_PATH)
 	CC=$(HOST_CXX) $(HOST_DMD_RUN) -of$@ $<
 	$G/idgen
 
-#########
-# STRING_IMPORT_FILES
-#
-# Create (or update) the generated VERSION file.
-# The file is only updated if the VERSION file changes, or, only when RELEASE=1
-# is not used, when the full version string changes (i.e. when the git hash or
-# the working tree dirty states changes).
-# The full version string have the form VERSION-devel-HASH(-dirty).
-# The "-dirty" part is only present when the repository had uncommitted changes
-# at the moment it was compiled (only files already tracked by git are taken
-# into account, untracked files don't affect the dirty state).
-VERSION := $(shell cat ../VERSION)
-ifneq (1,$(RELEASE))
-VERSION_GIT := $(shell printf "`$(GIT) rev-parse --short HEAD`"; \
-       test -n "`$(GIT) status --porcelain -uno`" && printf -- -dirty)
-VERSION := $(addsuffix -devel$(if $(VERSION_GIT),-$(VERSION_GIT)),$(VERSION))
+######## VERSION
+
+VERSION := $(shell cat ../VERSION) # default to checked-in VERSION file
+ifneq (1,$(RELEASE)) # unless building a release
+	VERSION_GIT := $(shell printf "`$(GIT) describe --dirty`") # use git describe
+	ifneq (,$(VERSION_GIT)) # check for git failures
+		VERSION := $(VERSION_GIT)
+	endif
 endif
+
+# only update $G/VERSION when it differs to avoid unnecessary rebuilds
 $(shell test $(VERSION) != "`cat $G/VERSION 2> /dev/null`" \
 		&& printf $(VERSION) > $G/VERSION )
+
 $(shell test $(SYSCONFDIR) != "`cat $G/SYSCONFDIR.imp 2> /dev/null`" \
 		&& printf '$(SYSCONFDIR)' > $G/SYSCONFDIR.imp )