diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index c280bfa3d..df2effa0a 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 #
 cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.5.0)
 project(zoneminder)
-file(STRINGS "version" zoneminder_VERSION)
+file(STRINGS "version.txt" zoneminder_VERSION)
 # make API version a minor of ZM version
 set(zoneminder_API_VERSION "${zoneminder_VERSION}.1")
 
diff --git a/version.txt b/version.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2381793ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/version.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+1.37.40