diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index e17963e842..d3be460040 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -199,6 +199,7 @@
 *.tar.gz
 *.dsc
 *.deb
+/git.rc
 /git.spec
 *.exe
 *.[aos]
diff --git a/GIT-VERSION-GEN b/GIT-VERSION-GEN
index c18f24e515..a1c8146f05 100755
--- a/GIT-VERSION-GEN
+++ b/GIT-VERSION-GEN
@@ -58,14 +58,18 @@ then
 	GIT_USER_AGENT="git/$GIT_VERSION"
 fi
 
-read GIT_MAJOR_VERSION GIT_MINOR_VERSION GIT_MICRO_VERSION trailing <<EOF
-$(echo "$GIT_VERSION" 0 0 0 | tr '.a-zA-Z-' ' ')
+# While released Git versions only have three numbers, development builds also
+# have a fourth number that corresponds to the number of patches since the last
+# release.
+read GIT_MAJOR_VERSION GIT_MINOR_VERSION GIT_MICRO_VERSION GIT_PATCH_LEVEL trailing <<EOF
+$(echo "$GIT_VERSION" 0 0 0 0 | tr '.a-zA-Z-' ' ')
 EOF
 
 sed -e "s|@GIT_VERSION@|$GIT_VERSION|" \
 	-e "s|@GIT_MAJOR_VERSION@|$GIT_MAJOR_VERSION|" \
 	-e "s|@GIT_MINOR_VERSION@|$GIT_MINOR_VERSION|" \
 	-e "s|@GIT_MICRO_VERSION@|$GIT_MICRO_VERSION|" \
+	-e "s|@GIT_PATCH_LEVEL@|$GIT_PATCH_LEVEL|" \
 	-e "s|@GIT_BUILT_FROM_COMMIT@|$GIT_BUILT_FROM_COMMIT|" \
 	-e "s|@GIT_USER_AGENT@|$GIT_USER_AGENT|" \
 	"$INPUT" >"$OUTPUT"+
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 7150ffc39c..1255d222c2 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -2568,11 +2568,12 @@ $(SCRIPT_LIB) : % : %.sh GIT-SCRIPT-DEFINES
 	$(QUIET_GEN)$(cmd_munge_script) && \
 	mv $@+ $@
 
-git.res: git.rc GIT-VERSION-FILE GIT-PREFIX
-	$(QUIET_RC)$(RC) \
-	  $(join -DMAJOR= -DMINOR= -DMICRO= -DPATCHLEVEL=, $(wordlist 1, 4, \
-	    $(shell echo $(GIT_VERSION) 0 0 0 0 | tr '.a-zA-Z-' ' '))) \
-	  -DGIT_VERSION="\\\"$(GIT_VERSION)\\\"" -i $< -o $@
+git.rc: git.rc.in GIT-VERSION-GEN GIT-VERSION-FILE
+	$(QUIET_GEN)$(SHELL_PATH) ./GIT-VERSION-GEN "$(shell pwd)" $< $@+
+	@if cmp $@+ $@ >/dev/null 2>&1; then $(RM) $@+; else mv $@+ $@; fi
+
+git.res: git.rc GIT-PREFIX
+	$(QUIET_RC)$(RC) -i $< -o $@
 
 # This makes sure we depend on the NO_PERL setting itself.
 $(SCRIPT_PERL_GEN): GIT-BUILD-OPTIONS
@@ -3717,7 +3718,7 @@ clean: profile-clean coverage-clean cocciclean
 	$(RM) -r .build $(UNIT_TEST_BIN)
 	$(RM) GIT-TEST-SUITES
 	$(RM) po/git.pot po/git-core.pot
-	$(RM) git.res
+	$(RM) git.rc git.res
 	$(RM) $(OBJECTS)
 	$(RM) headless-git.o
 	$(RM) $(LIB_FILE) $(XDIFF_LIB) $(REFTABLE_LIB)
diff --git a/contrib/buildsystems/CMakeLists.txt b/contrib/buildsystems/CMakeLists.txt
index 3cc5e31819..865b3af9fb 100644
--- a/contrib/buildsystems/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/contrib/buildsystems/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -691,18 +691,25 @@ list(TRANSFORM reftable_SOURCES PREPEND "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/")
 add_library(reftable STATIC ${reftable_SOURCES})
 
 if(WIN32)
+	add_custom_command(OUTPUT ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/git.rc
+			COMMAND "${SH_EXE}" "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/GIT-VERSION-GEN"
+				"${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}"
+				"${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/git.rc.in"
+				"${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/git.rc"
+			DEPENDS "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/GIT-VERSION-GEN"
+				"${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/git.rc.in"
+			VERBATIM)
+
 	if(NOT MSVC)#use windres when compiling with gcc and clang
 		add_custom_command(OUTPUT ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/git.res
-				COMMAND ${WINDRES_EXE} -O coff -DMAJOR=${PROJECT_VERSION_MAJOR} -DMINOR=${PROJECT_VERSION_MINOR}
-					-DMICRO=${PROJECT_VERSION_PATCH} -DPATCHLEVEL=0 -DGIT_VERSION="\\\"${PROJECT_VERSION}.GIT\\\""
-					-i ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/git.rc -o ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/git.res
+				COMMAND ${WINDRES_EXE} -O coff -i ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/git.rc -o ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/git.res
+				DEPENDS "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/git.rc"
 				WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}
 				VERBATIM)
 	else()#MSVC use rc
 		add_custom_command(OUTPUT ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/git.res
-				COMMAND ${CMAKE_RC_COMPILER} /d MAJOR=${PROJECT_VERSION_MAJOR} /d MINOR=${PROJECT_VERSION_MINOR}
-					/d MICRO=${PROJECT_VERSION_PATCH} /d PATCHLEVEL=0 /d GIT_VERSION="${PROJECT_VERSION}.GIT"
-					/fo ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/git.res ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/git.rc
+				COMMAND ${CMAKE_RC_COMPILER} /fo ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/git.res ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/git.rc
+				DEPENDS "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/git.rc"
 				WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}
 				VERBATIM)
 	endif()
diff --git a/git.rc b/git.rc.in
similarity index 67%
rename from git.rc
rename to git.rc.in
index cc3fdc6cc6..e69444eef3 100644
--- a/git.rc
+++ b/git.rc.in
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 1 VERSIONINFO
-FILEVERSION     MAJOR,MINOR,MICRO,PATCHLEVEL
-PRODUCTVERSION  MAJOR,MINOR,MICRO,PATCHLEVEL
+FILEVERSION     @GIT_MAJOR_VERSION@,@GIT_MINOR_VERSION@,@GIT_MICRO_VERSION@,@GIT_PATCH_LEVEL@
+PRODUCTVERSION  @GIT_MAJOR_VERSION@,@GIT_MINOR_VERSION@,@GIT_MICRO_VERSION@,@GIT_PATCH_LEVEL@
 BEGIN
   BLOCK "StringFileInfo"
   BEGIN
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ BEGIN
       VALUE "InternalName", "git\0"
       VALUE "OriginalFilename", "git.exe\0"
       VALUE "ProductName", "Git\0"
-      VALUE "ProductVersion", GIT_VERSION "\0"
+      VALUE "ProductVersion", "@GIT_VERSION@\0"
     END
   END