diff --git a/cmake/columnstore_version.cmake b/cmake/columnstore_version.cmake
index 843f18884..c8efb4092 100644
--- a/cmake/columnstore_version.cmake
+++ b/cmake/columnstore_version.cmake
@@ -25,7 +25,11 @@ MACRO(GET_COLUMNSTORE_VERSION)
   COLUMNSTORE_GET_CONFIG_VALUE("COLUMNSTORE_VERSION_PATCH" CS_PATCH_VERSION)
   COLUMNSTORE_GET_CONFIG_VALUE("COLUMNSTORE_VERSION_EXTRA" CS_EXTRA_VERSION)
   COLUMNSTORE_GET_CONFIG_VALUE("COLUMNSTORE_VERSION_RELEASE" CS_RELEASE_VERSION)
-  
+  IF(CMAPI)
+    SET(CMAPI_VERSION_MAJOR ${CS_MAJOR_VERSION})
+    SET(CMAPI_VERSION_MINOR ${CS_MINOR_VERSION})
+    SET(CMAPI_VERSION_PATCH ${CS_PATCH_VERSION}${CS_EXTRA_VERSION})
+  ENDIF()
 
 IF(NOT "${CS_MAJOR_VERSION}" MATCHES "[0-9]+" OR
    NOT "${CS_MINOR_VERSION}" MATCHES "[0-9]+" OR
diff --git a/cmapi/CMakeLists.txt b/cmapi/CMakeLists.txt
index bde8bbaa4..d28a77de2 100644
--- a/cmapi/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/cmapi/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -3,13 +3,14 @@ PROJECT(cmapi NONE)
 
 SET(CPACK_PACKAGE_NAME "MariaDB-columnstore-cmapi")
 
-FILE(STRINGS VERSION CRUDE_CMAPI_VERSION_MAJOR REGEX "^CMAPI_VERSION_MAJOR=")
-FILE(STRINGS VERSION CRUDE_CMAPI_VERSION_MINOR REGEX "^CMAPI_VERSION_MINOR=")
-FILE(STRINGS VERSION CRUDE_CMAPI_VERSION_PATCH REGEX "^CMAPI_VERSION_PATCH=")
-STRING(REPLACE "CMAPI_VERSION_MAJOR=" "" CMAPI_VERSION_MAJOR ${CRUDE_CMAPI_VERSION_MAJOR})
-STRING(REPLACE "CMAPI_VERSION_MINOR=" "" CMAPI_VERSION_MINOR ${CRUDE_CMAPI_VERSION_MINOR})
-STRING(REPLACE "CMAPI_VERSION_PATCH=" "" CMAPI_VERSION_PATCH ${CRUDE_CMAPI_VERSION_PATCH})
+
+# use columnstore package versioning
+SET(CMAPI "YES")
+SET(ENGINE_SRC_DIR ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/..)
+LIST(APPEND CMAKE_MODULE_PATH ${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/../cmake)
+INCLUDE(columnstore_version)
 SET(PACKAGE_VERSION "${CMAPI_VERSION_MAJOR}.${CMAPI_VERSION_MINOR}.${CMAPI_VERSION_PATCH}")
+
 SET(CMAPI_USER "root")
 
 SET(CPACK_PACKAGE_DESCRIPTION_SUMMARY "MariaDB ColumnStore CMAPI: cluster management API and command line tool.")
@@ -29,6 +30,7 @@ SET(CMAPI_CONF_FILEPATH "${ETC_DIR}/cmapi_server.conf")
 
 STRING(TOLOWER ${CPACK_PACKAGE_NAME} SYSTEMD_UNIT_NAME)
 
+CONFIGURE_FILE(VERSION.template VERSION)
 CONFIGURE_FILE(service.template ${SYSTEMD_UNIT_NAME}.service)
 CONFIGURE_FILE(systemd.env.template systemd.env)
 CONFIGURE_FILE(postinst.template postinst)
diff --git a/cmapi/VERSION b/cmapi/VERSION
deleted file mode 100644
index d19fa468e..000000000
--- a/cmapi/VERSION
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-CMAPI_VERSION_MAJOR=23
-CMAPI_VERSION_MINOR=03
-CMAPI_VERSION_PATCH=1b
diff --git a/cmapi/VERSION.template b/cmapi/VERSION.template
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ad8412cf0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmapi/VERSION.template
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+CMAPI_VERSION_MAJOR=${CMAPI_VERSION_MAJOR}
+CMAPI_VERSION_MINOR=${CMAPI_VERSION_MINOR}
+CMAPI_VERSION_PATCH=${CMAPI_VERSION_PATCH}