diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index a0c40883..ad9b4235 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 __pycache__
 pid
 .*.sw?
-version
+.version
 _version.py
 tags
 set_pythonpath
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 38ff6c8c..558f7390 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ deps:
 	./contrib/check_dependencies.py
 
 version:
-	./update_version.sh
+	./contrib/update_version.sh
 
 manual:
 	$(MAKE) -C doc/manuals
diff --git a/update_version.sh b/contrib/update_version.sh
similarity index 50%
rename from update_version.sh
rename to contrib/update_version.sh
index 3d5fe427..ab2674a8 100755
--- a/update_version.sh
+++ b/contrib/update_version.sh
@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 set -e
-git describe --abbrev=8 --dirty | sed 's/v\([^-]*\)-\([^-]*\)-\(.*\)/\1.dev\2.\3/' > version
-cat version
+ROOTDIR=$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)
+git describe --abbrev=8 --dirty | sed 's/v\([^-]*\)-\([^-]*\)-\(.*\)/\1.dev\2.\3/' > $ROOTDIR/.version
+cat $ROOTDIR/.version
 echo "# osmo-gsm-tester version.
 # Automatically generated by update_version.sh.
 # Gets imported by __init__.py.
 
-_version = '$(cat version)'" \
-  > src/osmo_gsm_tester/_version.py
+_version = '$(cat $ROOTDIR/.version)'" \
+  > $ROOTDIR/src/osmo_gsm_tester/_version.py