diff --git a/modules/jenkins/files/slave_scripts/version-properties.sh b/modules/jenkins/files/slave_scripts/version-properties.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..7dffc05e9d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/jenkins/files/slave_scripts/version-properties.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+#!/bin/bash -ex
+#
+# This is a script that helps us version build artifacts.  It retrieves
+# git info and generates version strings.
+#
+
+# get version info from scm
+SCM_TAG=`git describe --abbrev=0 --tags` || true
+SCM_SHA=`git rev-parse --short HEAD` || true
+
+# assumes format is like this  '0.0.4-2-g135721c'
+COMMITS_SINCE_TAG=`git describe | awk '{split($0,a,"-"); print a[2]}'` || true
+
+# just use git sha if there is no tag yet.
+if [[ "${SCM_TAG}" == "" ]]; then
+    SCM_TAG=$SCM_SHA
+fi
+
+# General build version should be something like '0.0.4.3.d4ee90c'
+# Release build version should be something like '0.0.5'
+if [[ "${COMMITS_SINCE_TAG}" == "" ]]; then
+    PROJECT_VER=$SCM_TAG
+else
+    PROJECT_VER="$SCM_TAG.$COMMITS_SINCE_TAG.$SCM_SHA";
+fi
+
+echo "SCM_SHA=$SCM_SHA" >version.properties
+echo "PROJECT_VER=$PROJECT_VER" >>version.properties
+echo "COMMITS_SINCE_TAG=$COMMITS_SINCE_TAG" >>version.properties