diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0b89dbe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+# used to remove files from deployment using `git archive`
+
+# version number
+common.php export-subst
+
+# git files
+.gitattributes export-ignore
+.gitignore export-ignore
+
+# core
+data/*.sqlite export-ignore
+scripts export-ignore
+Dockerfile export-ignore
+.travis.yml export-ignore
+
+# documentation
+**/docs/ export-ignore
+**/README.* export-ignore
+
+# composer files
+composer.json export-ignore
+vendor/composer/installed.json export-ignore
+
+# theme sources
+**/scss/ export-ignore
+**/less/ export-ignore
+**/*.rb export-ignore
+
+# unittests
+phpunit.xml export-ignore
+**/tests/ export-ignore
diff --git a/common.php b/common.php
index e07a61b..f4f4ee5 100644
--- a/common.php
+++ b/common.php
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ if (file_exists(__DIR__.'/config.php')) {
     require __DIR__.'/config.php';
 }
 
-defined('APP_VERSION') or define('APP_VERSION', 'master');
+defined('APP_VERSION') or define('APP_VERSION', Helper\parseAppVersion('$Format:%d$','$Format:%H$'));
 defined('HTTP_TIMEOUT') or define('HTTP_TIMEOUT', 20);
 
 defined('BASE_URL_DIRECTORY') or define('BASE_URL_DIRECTORY', dirname($_SERVER['PHP_SELF']));
@@ -63,4 +63,4 @@ PicoDb\Database::bootstrap('db', function() {
 
         die($html);
     }
-});
+});
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/index.php b/index.php
index c6d373f..955d929 100644
--- a/index.php
+++ b/index.php
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 <?php
 
+require __DIR__.'/lib/helpers.php';
 require __DIR__.'/common.php';
 require __DIR__.'/vendor/fguillot/picofarad/lib/PicoFarad/Template.php';
 require __DIR__.'/vendor/fguillot/picofarad/lib/PicoFarad/Response.php';
 require __DIR__.'/vendor/fguillot/picofarad/lib/PicoFarad/Request.php';
 require __DIR__.'/vendor/fguillot/picofarad/lib/PicoFarad/Session.php';
 require __DIR__.'/vendor/fguillot/picofarad/lib/PicoFarad/Router.php';
-require __DIR__.'/lib/helpers.php';
 
 use PicoFarad\Router;
 use PicoFarad\Response;
diff --git a/lib/helpers.php b/lib/helpers.php
index f592cd3..bbb1c64 100644
--- a/lib/helpers.php
+++ b/lib/helpers.php
@@ -2,6 +2,28 @@
 
 namespace Helper;
 
+/*
+ * get Version number from git archive output
+ */
+function parseAppVersion($refnames, $commithash)
+{
+    $version = 'master';
+
+    if ($refnames !== '$Format:%d$') {
+        $tag = preg_replace('/\s*\(.*tag:\sv([^,]+).*\)/i', '\1', $refnames);
+
+        if (!is_null($tag) && $tag !== $refnames) {
+            return $tag;
+        }
+    }
+
+    if ($commithash !== '$Format:%H$') {
+        $version .= '.'.$commithash;
+    }
+
+    return $version;
+}
+
 function favicon(array $favicons, $feed_id)
 {
     if (! empty($favicons[$feed_id])) {
diff --git a/scripts/make-archive.sh b/scripts/make-archive.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 1929a30..0000000
--- a/scripts/make-archive.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,38 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/sh
-
-VERSION=$1
-APP="miniflux"
-
-cd /tmp
-rm -rf /tmp/$APP /tmp/$APP-*.zip 2>/dev/null
-
-git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/fguillot/$APP.git
-
-rm -rf $APP/data/*.sqlite \
-       $APP/.git \
-       $APP/scripts \
-       $APP/Dockerfile \
-       $APP/vendor/composer/installed.json
-
-find $APP -name docs -type d -exec rm -rf {} +;
-find $APP -name tests -type d -exec rm -rf {} +;
-
-find $APP -name composer.json -delete
-find $APP -name phpunit.xml -delete
-find $APP -name .travis.yml -delete
-find $APP -name README.* -delete
-find $APP -name .gitignore -delete
-find $APP -name *.less -delete
-find $APP -name *.scss -delete
-find $APP -name *.rb -delete
-
-sed -i.bak s/master/$VERSION/g $APP/common.php && rm -f $APP/*.bak
-
-zip -r $APP-$VERSION.zip $APP
-mv $APP-*.zip ~/Devel/websites/$APP
-
-cd ~/Devel/websites/$APP/
-unlink $APP-latest.zip
-ln -s $APP-$VERSION.zip $APP-latest.zip
-
-rm -rf /tmp/$APP 2>/dev/null
diff --git a/scripts/make-release.sh b/scripts/make-release.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..90502d2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/make-release.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+if [ $# -eq 0 ]; then
+  echo 1>&2 "$0: version number missing"
+  exit 2
+fi
+
+VERSION=$1
+APP="miniflux"
+
+# tag the release
+git tag -a v$VERSION -m "Version $VERSION" && git push origin v$VERSION || exit 2
+
+# create the archive 
+git archive v$VERSION -o ~/Devel/websites/$APP/$APP-$VERSION.zip
+
+cd ~/Devel/websites/$APP/
+unlink $APP-latest.zip
+ln -s $APP-$VERSION.zip $APP-latest.zip
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/scripts/make-tag.sh b/scripts/make-tag.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 108444f..0000000
--- a/scripts/make-tag.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,6 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/sh
-
-VERSION=$1
-
-git tag -a v$VERSION -m "Version $VERSION"
-git push origin v$VERSION