diff --git a/common/version.c b/common/version.c
index 928cff32f..f90df212f 100644
--- a/common/version.c
+++ b/common/version.c
@@ -66,13 +66,4 @@ eprint_version(const char *const executable)
     exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
 }
 
-/** Get version string.
- * \return A string describing the current version.
- */
-const char*
-version_string(void)
-{
-    return AWESOME_VERSION;
-}
-
 // vim: filetype=c:expandtab:shiftwidth=4:tabstop=8:softtabstop=4:encoding=utf-8:textwidth=80
diff --git a/common/version.h b/common/version.h
index 4445a671d..d6c1ad5db 100644
--- a/common/version.h
+++ b/common/version.h
@@ -23,6 +23,5 @@
 #define AWESOME_COMMON_VERSION_H
 
 void eprint_version(const char *const executable) __attribute__ ((noreturn));
-const char *version_string(void);
 
 #endif
diff --git a/lua.c b/lua.c
index 77e408831..c24af8084 100644
--- a/lua.c
+++ b/lua.c
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@
 #include <xcb/xcb.h>
 #include <xcb/xcb_aux.h>
 
+#include "awesome-version-internal.h"
 #include "ewmh.h"
 #include "config.h"
 #include "lua.h"
@@ -44,7 +45,6 @@
 #include "screen.h"
 #include "layouts/tile.h"
 #include "common/socket.h"
-#include "common/version.h"
 
 extern awesome_t globalconf;
 
@@ -515,7 +515,7 @@ luaA_init(void)
     luaA_openlib(L, "keybinding", awesome_keybinding_methods, awesome_keybinding_meta);
 
     lua_pushliteral(L, "AWESOME_VERSION");
-    lua_pushstring(L, version_string());
+    lua_pushstring(L, AWESOME_VERSION);
     lua_settable(L, LUA_GLOBALSINDEX);
 
     luaA_dostring(L, "package.path = package.path .. \";" AWESOME_LUA_LIB_PATH  "/?.lua\"");