diff --git a/bin/release b/bin/release
index e72678b8..514074a5 100755
--- a/bin/release
+++ b/bin/release
@@ -47,6 +47,8 @@ build() {
     ## (library versions?)
 
     sed -i "/var version = / c\var version = \"$VERSION\"" weaver/main.go
+    sed -i "/var version = / c\var version = \"$VERSION\"" weavedns/main.go
+    sed -i "/SCRIPT_VERSION=/ c\SCRIPT_VERSION=\"$VERSION\"" ./weave
     make \
         WEAVER_IMAGE=$DOCKERHUB_USER/weave \
         WEAVEDNS_IMAGE=$DOCKERHUB_USER/weavedns
diff --git a/weave b/weave
index 1b010a6e..2a9f1a6f 100755
--- a/weave
+++ b/weave
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 set -e
 
+SCRIPT_VERSION="(unreleased version)"
+
 usage() {
     echo "Usage:"
     echo "weave launch     [-password <password> | -passwordfile <path>] <peer> ..."
@@ -479,14 +481,21 @@ case "$COMMAND" in
         ;;
     version)
         [ $# -eq 0 ] || usage
-        # Try the running container first; if no luck try the image
+        echo weave script $SCRIPT_VERSION
         if ! DOCKERIMAGE=$(docker inspect --format='{{ .Image }}' $CONTAINER_NAME 2>/dev/null) ; then
             if ! DOCKERIMAGE=$(docker inspect --format='{{ .Id }}' $IMAGE 2>/dev/null) ; then
                 echo "Unable to find $IMAGE image." >&2
                 exit 1
             fi
         fi
-        docker images --no-trunc | grep $DOCKERIMAGE | grep -v latest | tr -s ' ' | cut -d ' ' -f 2
+        docker run --rm $DOCKERIMAGE --version
+        if ! DOCKERIMAGE=$(docker inspect --format='{{ .Image }}' $DNS_CONTAINER_NAME 2>/dev/null) ; then
+            if ! DOCKERIMAGE=$(docker inspect --format='{{ .Id }}' $DNS_IMAGE 2>/dev/null) ; then
+                echo "Unable to find $DNS_IMAGE image." >&2
+                exit 1
+            fi
+        fi
+        docker run --rm $DOCKERIMAGE --version
         ;;
     run)
         [ $# -gt 0 ] || usage
diff --git a/weavedns/main.go b/weavedns/main.go
index b06e7f1b..1185dc75 100644
--- a/weavedns/main.go
+++ b/weavedns/main.go
@@ -2,24 +2,30 @@ package main
 
 import (
 	"flag"
+	"fmt"
 	weavedns "github.com/zettio/weave/nameserver"
 	weavenet "github.com/zettio/weave/net"
+	"io"
 	"io/ioutil"
 	"net"
 	"os"
 )
 
+var version = "(unreleased version)"
+
 func main() {
 	var (
-		ifaceName string
-		apiPath   string
-		dnsPort   int
-		httpPort  int
-		wait      int
-		watch     bool
-		debug     bool
+		justVersion bool
+		ifaceName   string
+		apiPath     string
+		dnsPort     int
+		httpPort    int
+		wait        int
+		watch       bool
+		debug       bool
 	)
 
+	flag.BoolVar(&justVersion, "version", false, "print version and exit")
 	flag.StringVar(&ifaceName, "iface", "", "name of interface to use for multicast")
 	flag.StringVar(&apiPath, "api", "unix:///var/run/docker.sock", "Path to Docker API socket")
 	flag.IntVar(&wait, "wait", 0, "number of seconds to wait for interface to be created and come up")
@@ -29,6 +35,11 @@ func main() {
 	flag.BoolVar(&debug, "debug", false, "output debugging info to stderr")
 	flag.Parse()
 
+	if justVersion {
+		io.WriteString(os.Stdout, fmt.Sprintf("weavedns %s\n", version))
+		os.Exit(0)
+	}
+
 	debugOut := ioutil.Discard
 	if debug {
 		debugOut = os.Stderr