diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 83e1751..a45b5bc 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ anstyle = "1.0.8"
 anyhow = "1.0.89"
 capnp = "0.20.1"
 capnp-futures = "0.20.0"
-clap = { version = "4.5.19", features = ["wrap_help", "derive", "cargo", "help"] }
+clap = { version = "4.5.19", features = ["wrap_help", "derive", "cargo", "help", "string"] }
 console = "0.15.8"
 dns-lookup = "2.0.4"
 futures-util = { version = "0.3.31", default-features = false }
diff --git a/src/cli/args.rs b/src/cli/args.rs
index 1ae6b1e..5b6154b 100644
--- a/src/cli/args.rs
+++ b/src/cli/args.rs
@@ -1,8 +1,7 @@
 // QCP top-level command-line arguments
 // (c) 2024 Ross Younger
 
-use crate::build_info;
-use clap::Parser;
+use clap::{Args as _, FromArgMatches as _, Parser};
 
 /// Options that switch us into another mode i.e. which don't require source/destination arguments
 pub(crate) const MODE_OPTIONS: &[&str] = &["server", "help_buffers"];
@@ -10,8 +9,7 @@ pub(crate) const MODE_OPTIONS: &[&str] = &["server", "help_buffers"];
 #[derive(Debug, Parser, Clone)]
 #[command(
     author,
-    version,
-    version(build_info::GIT_VERSION),
+    // we set short/long version strings explicitly, see custom_parse()
     about,
     before_help = "e.g.   qcp some/file my-server:some-directory/",
     infer_long_args(true)
@@ -70,3 +68,13 @@ pub(crate) struct CliArgs {
     //
     // N.B. ClientOptions has positional arguments!
 }
+
+impl CliArgs {
+    /// Sets up and executes ou
+    pub(crate) fn custom_parse() -> Self {
+        let cli = clap::Command::new(clap::crate_name!());
+        let ver = crate::version::short();
+        let cli = CliArgs::augment_args(cli).version(ver);
+        CliArgs::from_arg_matches(&cli.get_matches_from(std::env::args_os())).unwrap()
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/cli/cli_main.rs b/src/cli/cli_main.rs
index 56dda72..eac3b90 100644
--- a/src/cli/cli_main.rs
+++ b/src/cli/cli_main.rs
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@ use crate::{
     server::server_main,
     util::setup_tracing,
 };
-use clap::Parser;
 use indicatif::{MultiProgress, ProgressDrawTarget};
 use tracing::error_span;
 
@@ -23,7 +22,7 @@ use tracing::error_span;
 #[tokio::main(flavor = "current_thread")]
 #[allow(clippy::missing_panics_doc)]
 pub async fn cli() -> anyhow::Result<ExitCode> {
-    let args = CliArgs::parse();
+    let args = CliArgs::custom_parse();
     if args.help_buffers {
         os::print_udp_buffer_size_help_message(
             args.bandwidth.recv_buffer(),
diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index 890bea0..c1016ce 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -66,8 +66,4 @@ pub mod doc;
 
 pub mod os;
 
-/// Build-time info (autogenerated by `built`)
-#[allow(unreachable_pub)]
-mod build_info {
-    include!(concat!(env!("OUT_DIR"), "/built.rs"));
-}
+mod version;
diff --git a/src/version.rs b/src/version.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d0960df
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/version.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+//! Autogenerated build-time information
+// (c) 2024 Ross Younger
+
+/// Build-time info (autogenerated by `built`)
+#[allow(unreachable_pub)]
+mod build_info {
+    include!(concat!(env!("OUT_DIR"), "/built.rs"));
+}
+
+/// Short version string
+///
+/// If possible use GIT_VERSION; if not, do what we can
+pub(crate) fn short() -> String {
+    if let Some(ver) = build_info::GIT_VERSION {
+        return ver.into();
+    }
+    let hash = build_info::GIT_COMMIT_HASH_SHORT.unwrap_or("unknown");
+    format!("{}-{}", clap::crate_version!(), hash)
+}