diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 0d0b56869..49d1027d4 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -5,18 +5,6 @@ dnl
 dnl 2.64 is required at least for m4_esyscmd_s()
 AC_PREREQ(2.64)
 
-dnl AC_INIT defines PACKAGE_VERSION and PACKAGE_STRING macros in config.h
-dnl and puts a version into them.
-dnl Since a) version is changed after `git commit` (and config.h is recreated
-dnl as a result) and b) config.h is included in each .c file, the total
-dnl recompilation is performed after commit instead of recompilation
-dnl of modified files only.
-dnl
-dnl If AC_PACKAGE_VERSION and AC_PACKAGE_STRING macros are predefined before
-dnl AC_INIT call, AC_INIT doesn't redefine them.
-dnl As a result, config.h will not contain macros with variable version.
-m4_define([AC_PACKAGE_VERSION], [])
-m4_define([AC_PACKAGE_STRING], [])
 AC_INIT([GNU Midnight Commander], m4_esyscmd_s([./version.sh .]),
         [https://www.midnight-commander.org/wiki/NewTicket], [mc],
         [https://www.midnight-commander.org/])
diff --git a/doc/NEWS b/doc/NEWS
index 608a33cea..2c31edb9e 100644
--- a/doc/NEWS
+++ b/doc/NEWS
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ Version 4.8.27
     * Minimal version of Gettext is 0.18.2 (#3603)
     * Minimal version of libssh2 is 1.2.8 (#4259)
     * Reimplement version detection (#3603, #4249)
-    * Significantly reduce rebuilt time after version change (#2252)
+    * Significantly reduce rebuilt time after version change (#2252, #4266)
     * Drop automatic migration of configuration from ~/.mc to XDG-based directories (#3682)
     * zsh: support custom configuration file: ~/.local/share/mc/.zshrc (#4203)
     * Widgets: implement WST_VISIBLE state to show/hide widgets (#2919)
diff --git a/version.sh b/version.sh
index 5d7aa1615..0565b7448 100755
--- a/version.sh
+++ b/version.sh
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ mc_print_version(){
 #endif
 EOF
     fi
-    echo "${CURR_MC_VERSION}"
+    echo "${SHOR_MC_VERSION}"
     exit
 }
 
@@ -59,11 +59,13 @@ src_top_dir="$1"
 VERSION_FILE="${src_top_dir}/mc-version.h"
 PREV_MC_VERSION="unknown"
 CURR_MC_VERSION="${PREV_MC_VERSION}"
+SHOR_MC_VERSION="${PREV_MC_VERSION}"
 
 if [ -r "${VERSION_FILE}" ]
   then
     PREV_MC_VERSION=`sed -n 's/^#define MC_CURRENT_VERSION "\(.*\)"$/\1/p' "${VERSION_FILE}"`
     CURR_MC_VERSION="${PREV_MC_VERSION}"
+    SHOR_MC_VERSION="${PREV_MC_VERSION}"
 fi
 
 git_head=`git --git-dir "${src_top_dir}/.git" rev-parse --verify HEAD 2>/dev/null`
@@ -71,10 +73,16 @@ git_head=`git --git-dir "${src_top_dir}/.git" rev-parse --verify HEAD 2>/dev/nul
 
 # try to store sha1
 CURR_MC_VERSION="${git_head}"
+SHOR_MC_VERSION="${CURR_MC_VERSION}"
 
 new_version=`git --git-dir "${src_top_dir}/.git" describe --always 2>/dev/null`
 [ -z "${new_version}" ] && mc_print_version
 
 # store pretty tagged version
 CURR_MC_VERSION="${new_version}"
+SHOR_MC_VERSION="${CURR_MC_VERSION}"
+
+# stop full rebuild by using not-exact git version string in config.h, see #2252, #4266
+SHOR_MC_VERSION=`git --git-dir "${src_top_dir}/.git" describe --always --abbrev=0 2>/dev/null`-git
+
 mc_print_version