diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 14ef27c..2bf5dd8 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -61,11 +61,29 @@ func main() {
 
 # Behind the curtain
 
+These are the commands that are used under the hood to produce the versions.
+
+Shows the git tag + description. Assumes that you're using the semver format `v1.0.0` for your base tags.
+
 ```bash
 git describe --tags --dirty --always
 # v1.0.0
-# v1.0.0-1
-
-git log --format='format:%cI' -n 1 --since=(git describe --tags --dirty --always)
-git rev-parse HEAD
+# v1.0.0-1-g0000000
+# v1.0.0-dirty
+```
+
+Show the commit date (when the commit made it into the current tree).
+Internally we use the current date when the working tree is dirty.
+
+```bash
+git show v1.0.0-1-g0000000 --format=%cd --date=format:%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ%z --no-patch
+# 2010-01-01T20:30:00Z-0600
+# fatal: ambiguous argument 'v1.0.0-1-g0000000-dirty': unknown revision or path not in the working tree.
+```
+
+Shows the most recent commit.
+
+```bash
+git rev-parse HEAD
+# 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
 ```
diff --git a/gitver.go b/gitver.go
index 56feed3..209f7e9 100644
--- a/gitver.go
+++ b/gitver.go
@@ -19,13 +19,19 @@ var exactVer *regexp.Regexp
 var gitVer *regexp.Regexp
 var verFile = "generated-version.go"
 
+var (
+	GitRev       = "0000000"
+	GitVersion   = "v0.0.0-pre0+g0000000"
+	GitTimestamp = "0000-00-00T00:00:00+0000"
+)
+
 func init() {
 	// exactly vX.Y.Z (go-compatible semver)
 	exactVer = regexp.MustCompile(`^v\d+\.\d+\.\d+$`)
 
 	// vX.Y.Z-n-g0000000 git post-release, semver prerelease
 	// vX.Y.Z-dirty git post-release, semver prerelease
-	gitVer = regexp.MustCompile(`^(v\d+\.\d+)\.(\d+)-((\d+)-)?(dirty|g)`)
+	gitVer = regexp.MustCompile(`^(v\d+\.\d+)\.(\d+)(-(\d+))?(-(g[0-9a-f]+))?(-(dirty))?`)
 }
 
 func main() {
@@ -34,6 +40,11 @@ func main() {
 		arg := args[i]
 		if "-f" == arg || "--fail" == arg {
 			exitCode = 1
+		} else if "-V" == arg || "version" == arg || "-version" == arg || "--version" == arg {
+			fmt.Println(GitRev)
+			fmt.Println(GitVersion)
+			fmt.Println(GitTimestamp)
+			os.Exit(0)
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -46,7 +57,6 @@ func main() {
 	ver := semVer(desc)
 	ts, err := gitTimestamp(desc)
 	if nil != err {
-		fmt.Println("badtimes", err) // TODO remove
 		ts = time.Now()
 	}
 
@@ -137,6 +147,11 @@ func semVer(desc string) string {
 		}
 		// v1.0.1-pre1
 		ver = fmt.Sprintf("%s.%d-pre%s", vers[1], patch+1, vers[4])
+		fmt.Println(desc, vers)
+		if "dirty" == vers[8] {
+			//if strings.Contains(desc, "dirty") {
+			ver += "+dirty"
+		}
 	}
 	return ver
 }
@@ -151,9 +166,6 @@ func gitTimestamp(desc string) (time.Time, error) {
 	}
 	cmd := exec.Command(args[0], args[1:]...)
 	out, err := cmd.CombinedOutput()
-	fmt.Printf("args:\n%#v\n\n", args)
-	fmt.Printf("in:\n%s\n\n", strings.Join(args, " "))
-	fmt.Println("out:\n\n", string(out), err)
 	if nil != err {
 		// a dirty desc was probably used
 		return time.Time{}, err