diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 5d9ef3b8fd..416a81c7ca 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -434,21 +434,23 @@ all: $(DOCS) $(TOOLS) $(HELPERS-y) recurse-all modules
 qemu-version.h: FORCE
 	$(call quiet-command, \
 		(cd $(SRC_PATH); \
-		printf '#define QEMU_PKGVERSION '; \
 		if test -n "$(PKGVERSION)"; then \
-			printf '"$(PKGVERSION)"\n'; \
+			pkgvers="$(PKGVERSION)"; \
 		else \
 			if test -d .git; then \
-				printf '" ('; \
-				git describe --match 'v*' 2>/dev/null | tr -d '\n'; \
+				pkgvers=$$(git describe --match 'v*' 2>/dev/null | tr -d '\n');\
 				if ! git diff-index --quiet HEAD &>/dev/null; then \
-					printf -- '-dirty'; \
+					pkgvers="$${pkgvers}-dirty"; \
 				fi; \
-				printf ')"\n'; \
-			else \
-				printf '""\n'; \
 			fi; \
-		fi) > $@.tmp)
+		fi; \
+		printf "#define QEMU_PKGVERSION \"$${pkgvers}\"\n"; \
+		if test -n "$${pkgvers}"; then \
+			printf '#define QEMU_FULL_VERSION QEMU_VERSION " (" QEMU_PKGVERSION ")"\n'; \
+		else \
+			printf '#define QEMU_FULL_VERSION QEMU_VERSION\n'; \
+		fi; \
+		) > $@.tmp)
 	$(call quiet-command, if ! cmp -s $@ $@.tmp; then \
 	  mv $@.tmp $@; \
 	 else \
diff --git a/bsd-user/main.c b/bsd-user/main.c
index efef5ff8c5..05aa5594a9 100644
--- a/bsd-user/main.c
+++ b/bsd-user/main.c
@@ -649,7 +649,7 @@ void cpu_loop(CPUSPARCState *env)
 
 static void usage(void)
 {
-    printf("qemu-" TARGET_NAME " version " QEMU_VERSION QEMU_PKGVERSION
+    printf("qemu-" TARGET_NAME " version " QEMU_FULL_VERSION
            "\n" QEMU_COPYRIGHT "\n"
            "usage: qemu-" TARGET_NAME " [options] program [arguments...]\n"
            "BSD CPU emulator (compiled for %s emulation)\n"
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index f74e1f3b7c..26d56eb5bb 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -1163,7 +1163,7 @@ for opt do
   ;;
   --disable-blobs) blobs="no"
   ;;
-  --with-pkgversion=*) pkgversion=" ($optarg)"
+  --with-pkgversion=*) pkgversion="$optarg"
   ;;
   --with-coroutine=*) coroutine="$optarg"
   ;;
diff --git a/linux-user/main.c b/linux-user/main.c
index 7bc9bc79b0..abbd14e208 100644
--- a/linux-user/main.c
+++ b/linux-user/main.c
@@ -4163,7 +4163,7 @@ static void handle_arg_strace(const char *arg)
 
 static void handle_arg_version(const char *arg)
 {
-    printf("qemu-" TARGET_NAME " version " QEMU_VERSION QEMU_PKGVERSION
+    printf("qemu-" TARGET_NAME " version " QEMU_FULL_VERSION
            "\n" QEMU_COPYRIGHT "\n");
     exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
 }
diff --git a/qemu-img.c b/qemu-img.c
index 088d89043e..855fa52514 100644
--- a/qemu-img.c
+++ b/qemu-img.c
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@
 #include "crypto/init.h"
 #include "trace/control.h"
 
-#define QEMU_IMG_VERSION "qemu-img version " QEMU_VERSION QEMU_PKGVERSION \
+#define QEMU_IMG_VERSION "qemu-img version " QEMU_FULL_VERSION \
                           "\n" QEMU_COPYRIGHT "\n"
 
 typedef struct img_cmd_t {
diff --git a/qemu-io.c b/qemu-io.c
index 160fb2a89f..e692c555e0 100644
--- a/qemu-io.c
+++ b/qemu-io.c
@@ -558,7 +558,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
             trace_file = trace_opt_parse(optarg);
             break;
         case 'V':
-            printf("%s version " QEMU_VERSION QEMU_PKGVERSION "\n"
+            printf("%s version " QEMU_FULL_VERSION "\n"
                    QEMU_COPYRIGHT "\n", progname);
             exit(0);
         case 'h':
diff --git a/qemu-nbd.c b/qemu-nbd.c
index ed5d9b5062..0af0560ad1 100644
--- a/qemu-nbd.c
+++ b/qemu-nbd.c
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ QEMU_HELP_BOTTOM "\n"
 static void version(const char *name)
 {
     printf(
-"%s " QEMU_VERSION QEMU_PKGVERSION "\n"
+"%s " QEMU_FULL_VERSION "\n"
 "Written by Anthony Liguori.\n"
 "\n"
 QEMU_COPYRIGHT "\n"
diff --git a/qga/main.c b/qga/main.c
index f9c83050c5..837a75a46a 100644
--- a/qga/main.c
+++ b/qga/main.c
@@ -218,7 +218,7 @@ static void usage(const char *cmd)
 {
     printf(
 "Usage: %s [-m <method> -p <path>] [<options>]\n"
-"QEMU Guest Agent " QEMU_VERSION QEMU_PKGVERSION "\n"
+"QEMU Guest Agent " QEMU_FULL_VERSION "\n"
 QEMU_COPYRIGHT "\n"
 "\n"
 "  -m, --method      transport method: one of unix-listen, virtio-serial,\n"
diff --git a/scsi/qemu-pr-helper.c b/scsi/qemu-pr-helper.c
index 9fe615c73c..3facbba170 100644
--- a/scsi/qemu-pr-helper.c
+++ b/scsi/qemu-pr-helper.c
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ QEMU_HELP_BOTTOM "\n"
 static void version(const char *name)
 {
     printf(
-"%s " QEMU_VERSION QEMU_PKGVERSION "\n"
+"%s " QEMU_FULL_VERSION "\n"
 "Written by Paolo Bonzini.\n"
 "\n"
 QEMU_COPYRIGHT "\n"
diff --git a/ui/cocoa.m b/ui/cocoa.m
index 18de0bb3ea..110b393e4e 100644
--- a/ui/cocoa.m
+++ b/ui/cocoa.m
@@ -1330,7 +1330,7 @@ QemuCocoaView *cocoaView;
     /* Create the version string*/
     NSString *version_string;
     version_string = [[NSString alloc] initWithFormat:
-    @"QEMU emulator version %s%s", QEMU_VERSION, QEMU_PKGVERSION];
+    @"QEMU emulator version %s", QEMU_FULL_VERSION];
     [version_label setStringValue: version_string];
     [superView addSubview: version_label];
 
diff --git a/vl.c b/vl.c
index 26662eb9e7..e81152417a 100644
--- a/vl.c
+++ b/vl.c
@@ -1948,7 +1948,7 @@ static void main_loop(void)
 
 static void version(void)
 {
-    printf("QEMU emulator version " QEMU_VERSION QEMU_PKGVERSION "\n"
+    printf("QEMU emulator version " QEMU_FULL_VERSION "\n"
            QEMU_COPYRIGHT "\n");
 }