diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index b7f57664..ac6aeef1 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -36,10 +36,11 @@ build:
 	@./build/assets.sh
 	@./build/build.sh
 
-release: build
-	@./build/release.sh
+release:
+	@echo ">> building release binaries"
+	@RELEASE=true ./build/build.sh
 
 docker:
 	@docker build -t cadvisor:$(shell git rev-parse --short HEAD) -f deploy/Dockerfile .
 
-.PHONY: all format build test vet docker
+.PHONY: all build docker format release test vet
diff --git a/build/build.sh b/build/build.sh
index 5ece23e2..86d68c82 100755
--- a/build/build.sh
+++ b/build/build.sh
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ RELEASE=${RELEASE:-false} # Whether to build for an official release.
 
 repo_path="github.com/google/cadvisor"
 
-version=$( cat version/VERSION )
+version=$( git describe --tags --abbrev=14 HEAD | sed -E 's/-([0-9]+)-g([0-9a-f]+)/.\1+\2/' )
 revision=$( git rev-parse --short HEAD 2> /dev/null || echo 'unknown' )
 branch=$( git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD 2> /dev/null || echo 'unknown' )
 build_user="${USER}@${HOSTNAME}"
@@ -30,6 +30,14 @@ go_version=$( go version | sed -e 's/^[^0-9.]*\([0-9.]*\).*/\1/' )
 GO_CMD="install"
 
 if [ "$RELEASE" == "true" ]; then
+  # Only allow releases of tagged versions.
+  TAGGED='^v[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+$'
+  if [[ ! "$version" =~ $TAGGED ]]; then
+    echo "Only tagged versions are allowed for releases" >&2
+    echo "Found: $version" >&2
+    exit 1
+  fi
+
   # Don't include hostname with release builds
   build_user="$(git config --get user.email)"
   build_date=$( date +%Y%m%d ) # Release date is only to day-granularity
diff --git a/build/release.sh b/build/release.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 32162fe8..00000000
--- a/build/release.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,23 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-
-# Copyright 2015 Google Inc. All rights reserved.
-#
-# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
-# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
-# You may obtain a copy of the License at
-#
-#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-#
-# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
-# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
-# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
-# limitations under the License.
-
-version=$( cat version/VERSION )
-branch=$( git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD 2> /dev/null || echo 'unknown' )
-
-rm -rf release && mkdir release
-cp cadvisor release/cadvisor
-go get -u github.com/progrium/gh-release
-gh-release create google/cadvisor ${version} ${branch} ${version}
diff --git a/version/VERSION b/version/VERSION
deleted file mode 100644
index df47809d..00000000
--- a/version/VERSION
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-0.23.6