diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 23f241d8..9261e129 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -29,7 +29,8 @@ update:
 	wget -O gluon/contrib/simplejsonrpc.py http://rad2py.googlecode.com/hg/ide2py/simplejsonrpc.py
 	echo "remember that pymysql was tweaked"
 src:
-	echo 'Version 2.3.2 ('`date +%Y-%m-%d\ %H:%M:%S`') dev' > VERSION
+	### Use semantic versioning
+	echo 'Version 2.3.2-alpha.1+timestamp.'`date +%Y.%m.%d.%H.%M.%S` > VERSION
 	### rm -f all junk files
 	make clean
 	### clean up baisc apps
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index 22b2146f..9832a9a0 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Version 2.3.2 (2012-12-20 09:21:27) dev
+Version 2.3.2-alpha.1+timestamp.2012.12.20.15.39.20
diff --git a/gluon/fileutils.py b/gluon/fileutils.py
index 313af4fd..9728ed7b 100644
--- a/gluon/fileutils.py
+++ b/gluon/fileutils.py
@@ -45,14 +45,33 @@ __all__ = [
 ]
 
 
-def parse_version(version="Version 1.99.0 (2011-09-19 08:23:26)"):
+def parse_semantic(version="Version 1.99.0-rc.1+timestamp.2011.09.19.08.23.26"):
+    "http://semver.org/"
+    re_version = re.compile('Version (\d+)\.(\d+)\.(\d+)(\-(?P<pre>[^\s+]*))?(\+(?P<build>\S*))')
+    m = re_version.match(version)
+    if not m:
+        return None
+    a, b, c = int(m.group(1)), int(m.group(2)), int(m.group(3))
+    pre_release = m.group('pre') or ''
+    build = m.group('build') or ''
+    if build.startswith('timestamp'):
+        build = datetime.datetime.strptime(build.split('.',1)[1], '%Y.%m.%d.%H.%M.%S')
+    return (a, b, c, pre_release, build)
+
+def parse_legacy(version="Version 1.99.0 (2011-09-19 08:23:26)"):
     re_version = re.compile('[^\d]+ (\d+)\.(\d+)\.(\d+)\s*\((?P<datetime>.+?)\)\s*(?P<type>[a-z]+)?')
     m = re_version.match(version)
     a, b, c = int(m.group(1)), int(m.group(2)), int(m.group(3)),
-    s = m.group('type') or 'dev'
-    d = datetime.datetime.strptime(m.group('datetime'), '%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S')
-    return (a, b, c, d, s)
+    pre_release = m.group('type') or 'dev'
+    build = datetime.datetime.strptime(m.group('datetime'), '%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S')
+    return (a, b, c, pre_release, build)
 
+def parse_version(version):
+    items = parse_semantic(version)
+    if not items:
+        items = parse_legacy(version)
+    (a, b, c, pre_release, build) = items
+    return (a, b, c, build, pre_release) # build, pre_releas intentionally reversed
 
 def read_file(filename, mode='r'):
     "returns content from filename, making sure to close the file explicitly on exit."