diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -162,25 +162,13 @@ else()
 endif()
 
 # get revision number from mercurial
-find_program(MERCURIAL hg)
-
-if (MERCURIAL)
-  execute_process(COMMAND ${MERCURIAL} id -i
-    WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}
-    RESULT_VARIABLE MERCURIAL_RESULT
-    OUTPUT_VARIABLE VERSION_REVISION
-    OUTPUT_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE)
-  if(NOT MERCURIAL_RESULT EQUAL 0)
-    set(VERSION_SCM_REVISION false)
-  endif(NOT MERCURIAL_RESULT EQUAL 0)
-endif (MERCURIAL)
-
-if (NOT VERSION_REVISION)
-  set(VERSION_REVISION "0")
-endif (NOT VERSION_REVISION)
-
-message("SCM revision: ${VERSION_REVISION}")
-set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -DVERSION_REVISION=\\\"${VERSION_REVISION}\\\" ")
+include(GetVersion)
+if (NOT ${HG_VERSION} STREQUAL "")
+  set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -DVERSION_STRING=\\\"${HG_VERSION}\\\" ")
+endif()
+if (NOT ${HG_REVISION} STREQUAL "")
+  set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -DVERSION_REVISION=\\\"${HG_REVISION}\\\" ")
+endif()
 
 # add make run target
 add_custom_target(run
diff --git a/cmake/modules/GetVersion.cmake b/cmake/modules/GetVersion.cmake
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmake/modules/GetVersion.cmake
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+#
+# Copyright © 2017 Hasan Yavuz Özderya
+#
+# This file is part of serialplot.
+#
+# serialplot is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+# (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# serialplot is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with serialplot.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+#
+
+# try to get latest version from mercurial
+find_program(HG hg)
+
+if (HG)
+  # get latest tag
+  execute_process(COMMAND ${HG} parents --template {latesttag}
+    WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}
+    RESULT_VARIABLE HG_RESULT
+    OUTPUT_VARIABLE HG_LATEST_TAG
+    OUTPUT_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE)
+  if(NOT HG_RESULT EQUAL 0)
+    set(HG_LATEST_TAG "")
+  endif(NOT HG_RESULT EQUAL 0)
+
+  # get revision
+  execute_process(COMMAND ${HG} id -i
+    WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}
+    RESULT_VARIABLE HG_RESULT
+    OUTPUT_VARIABLE HG_REVISION
+    OUTPUT_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE)
+  if(NOT HG_RESULT EQUAL 0)
+    set(HG_REVISION "")
+  endif(NOT HG_RESULT EQUAL 0)
+endif (HG)
+
+# Try to get version from .hg_archival file
+if (${HG_LATEST_TAG} STREQUAL "" OR NOT ${HG_LATEST_TAG})
+  set(HG_ARCHIVAL_FILE ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/.hg_archival.txt)
+  if (EXISTS ${HG_ARCHIVAL_FILE})
+    # get latest tag
+    file(STRINGS ${HG_ARCHIVAL_FILE} HG_ARCHIVAL_LATEST_TAG REGEX "^latesttag:.+")
+    string(REGEX REPLACE "latesttag:[ \t]*(.+)" "\\1" HG_LATEST_TAG ${HG_ARCHIVAL_LATEST_TAG})
+
+    # get latest revision
+    file(STRINGS ${HG_ARCHIVAL_FILE} HG_ARCHIVAL_REV REGEX "^node:.+")
+    string(REGEX REPLACE "node:[ \t]*([a-fA-F0-9]+)" "\\1" HG_ARCHIVAL_REV ${HG_ARCHIVAL_REV})
+    string(SUBSTRING ${HG_ARCHIVAL_REV} 0 12 HG_REVISION)
+  endif()
+endif ()
+
+# extract version information from tag (remove 'v' prefix)
+if (NOT ${HG_LATEST_TAG} STREQUAL "")
+  string(REPLACE "v" "" HG_VERSION ${HG_LATEST_TAG})
+  message("Version: ${HG_VERSION} (${HG_REVISION})")
+else ()
+  message("Failed to find version information.")
+endif ()