diff --git a/src/main/java/net/openhft/chronicle/map/BuildVersion.java b/src/main/java/net/openhft/chronicle/map/BuildVersion.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f069d0a3a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/net/openhft/chronicle/map/BuildVersion.java
@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2014 Higher Frequency Trading
+ *
+ * http://www.higherfrequencytrading.com
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package net.openhft.chronicle.map;
+
+import shaded.org.apache.maven.model.Model;
+import shaded.org.apache.maven.model.io.xpp3.MavenXpp3Reader;
+
+import java.io.File;
+import java.io.FileReader;
+import java.io.Reader;
+
+/**
+ * gets the version of the current build
+ */
+class BuildVersion {
+
+
+    /**
+     * gets the version of NULL if it can not be read
+     */
+    public static String version() {
+
+        final String version = getVersionFromManifest();
+
+        if (version != null)
+            return version;
+
+        // as a fall back for development we will read the version from the pom file
+        return getVersionFromPom();
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * This should be used by everyone that has install chronicle map
+     *
+     * @return gets the version out of the manifest, or null if it can not be read
+     */
+    private static String getVersionFromManifest() {
+        return ChronicleMapBuilder.class.getPackage().getImplementationVersion();
+    }
+
+
+    /**
+     * reads the pom file to get this version, only used for development or within the ide.
+     *
+     * @return gets the version from the pom.xml
+     */
+    private static String getVersionFromPom() {
+        final File file = new File(new File(BuildVersion.class.getResource("/").getPath())
+                .getParentFile().getParentFile().getAbsolutePath() + "/pom.xml");
+
+        try (Reader reader = new FileReader(file)) {
+
+            final MavenXpp3Reader xpp3Reader = new MavenXpp3Reader();
+            Model model = xpp3Reader.read(reader);
+            return model.getVersion();
+
+
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            return null;
+        }
+    }
+
+
+}
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