diff --git a/application/VERSION b/application/VERSION
index 47f3a662f..519b667a7 100644
--- a/application/VERSION
+++ b/application/VERSION
@@ -1,2 +1 @@
-GitCommitID: $Format:%H%d$
-GitCommitDate: $Format:%ci$
+$Format:%H%d %ci$
diff --git a/application/views/scripts/about/index.phtml b/application/views/scripts/about/index.phtml
index 3c37a5e73..53f5a1842 100644
--- a/application/views/scripts/about/index.phtml
+++ b/application/views/scripts/about/index.phtml
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
             'gitCommitID'   => $this->translate('Git commit ID: %s'),
             'gitCommitDate' => $this->translate('Git commit date: %s')
         ) as $key => $label) {
-            if (null !== ($value = $version[$key])) {
+            if (array_key_exists($key, $version) && null !== ($value = $version[$key])) {
                 $versionInfo[] = sprintf($label, htmlspecialchars($value));
             }
         }
diff --git a/library/Icinga/Version.php b/library/Icinga/Version.php
index 130e75060..4e5b36945 100644
--- a/library/Icinga/Version.php
+++ b/library/Icinga/Version.php
@@ -15,91 +15,29 @@ class Version
      */
     public static function get()
     {
-        $versionInfo = array(
-            'appVersion'    => null,
-            'gitCommitID'   => null,
-            'gitCommitDate' => null
-        );
-
-        if (false !== ($appVersion = @file(
-            Icinga::app()->getApplicationDir() . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . 'VERSION',
-            FILE_IGNORE_NEW_LINES | FILE_SKIP_EMPTY_LINES
+        if (false === ($appVersion = @file_get_contents(
+            Icinga::app()->getApplicationDir() . DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . 'VERSION'
         ))) {
-            foreach ($appVersion as $av) {
-                $matches = array();
-                if (false === ($res = preg_match(
-                    '/(?<!.)\s*(.+?)\s*:\s*(.+?)\s*(?!.)/ms', $av, $matches
-                ))) {
-                    throw new IcingaException('Failed at preg_match()');
-                }
-                if ($res === 0) {
-                    continue;
-                }
-
-                switch ($matches[1]) {
-                    case 'GitCommitID':
-                        if ($versionInfo['gitCommitID'] !== null) {
-                            break;
-                        }
-
-                        $matches2 = array();
-                        if (false === ($res = preg_match(
-                            '/(?<!.)(.+?)(?:\s*\(\s*(.+?)\s*\))?(?!.)/ms',
-                            $matches[2],
-                            $matches2
-                        ))) {
-                            throw new IcingaException('Failed at preg_match()');
-                        }
-                        if ($res === 0) {
-                            break;
-                        }
-
-                        $versionInfo['gitCommitID'] = $matches2[1];
-                        if (! isset($matches2[2])) {
-                            break;
-                        }
-
-                        foreach (preg_split(
-                            '/\s*,\s*/', $matches2[2], -1, PREG_SPLIT_NO_EMPTY
-                        ) as $refName) {
-                            $matches3 = array();
-                            if (false === ($res = preg_match(
-                                '/(?<!.)tag\s*:\s*v(.+?)(?!.)/ms',
-                                $refName,
-                                $matches3
-                            ))) {
-                                throw new IcingaException('Failed at preg_match()');
-                            }
-                            if ($res === 1) {
-                                $versionInfo['appVersion'] = $matches3[1];
-                                break;
-                            }
-                        }
-                        break;
-                    case 'GitCommitDate':
-                        if ($versionInfo['gitCommitDate'] !== null) {
-                            break;
-                        }
-
-                        $matches2 = array();
-                        if (false === ($res = preg_match(
-                            '/(?<!.)(\S+)/ms', $matches[2], $matches2
-                        ))) {
-                            throw new IcingaException('Failed at preg_match()');
-                        }
-                        if ($res === 1) {
-                            $versionInfo['gitCommitDate'] = $matches2[1];
-                        }
-                }
-            }
+            return false;
         }
 
-        foreach (array('gitCommitID', 'gitCommitDate') as $key) {
-            if ($versionInfo[$key] === null) {
-                return false;
-            }
+        $matches = array();
+        if (false === ($res = preg_match(
+            '/(?<!.)\s*(?P<gitCommitID>\w+)(?:\s*\(.*?(?:(?<=[\(,])\s*tag\s*:\s*v(?P<appVersion>.+?)\s*(?=[\),]).*?)?\))?\s*(?P<gitCommitDate>\S+)/ms',
+            $appVersion,
+            $matches
+        ))) {
+            throw new IcingaException('Failed at preg_match()');
+        }
+        if ($res === 0) {
+            return false;
         }
 
-        return $versionInfo;
+        foreach ($matches as $key => $value) {
+            if (is_int($key) || $value === '') {
+                unset($matches[$key]);
+            }
+        }
+        return $matches;
     }
 }