diff --git a/.version b/.version
deleted file mode 100644
index 4004af690..000000000
--- a/.version
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-2.90.0
diff --git a/docker.nix b/docker.nix
index 2d57cd548..cec3a2950 100644
--- a/docker.nix
+++ b/docker.nix
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   pkgs ? import <nixpkgs> { },
   lib ? pkgs.lib,
-  name ? "nix",
+  name ? "lix",
   tag ? "latest",
   bundleNixpkgs ? true,
   channelName ? "nixpkgs",
diff --git a/flake.nix b/flake.nix
index d0b674464..fd8b7995e 100644
--- a/flake.nix
+++ b/flake.nix
@@ -59,7 +59,6 @@
       # Set to true to build the release notes for the next release.
       buildUnreleasedNotes = true;
 
-      version = lib.fileContents ./.version + versionSuffix;
       versionSuffix =
         if officialRelease then
           ""
@@ -149,8 +148,7 @@
         }
       );
 
-      binaryTarball =
-        nix: pkgs: pkgs.callPackage ./nix-support/binary-tarball.nix { inherit nix version; };
+      binaryTarball = nix: pkgs: pkgs.callPackage ./nix-support/binary-tarball.nix { inherit nix; };
 
       overlayFor =
         getStdenv: final: prev:
@@ -330,10 +328,10 @@
                 pkgs = nixpkgsFor.${system}.native;
                 image = import ./docker.nix {
                   inherit pkgs;
-                  tag = version;
+                  tag = pkgs.nix.version;
                 };
               in
-              pkgs.runCommand "docker-image-tarball-${version}"
+              pkgs.runCommand "docker-image-tarball-${pkgs.nix.version}"
                 { meta.description = "Docker image with Lix for ${system}"; }
                 ''
                   mkdir -p $out/nix-support
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index b98b1fb15..51c7bda59 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@
 # in the build directory.
 
 project('lix', 'cpp',
-  version : run_command('bash', '-c', 'echo -n $(cat ./.version)$VERSION_SUFFIX', check : true).stdout().strip(),
+  version : run_command('bash', '-c', 'echo -n $(jq -r .version < ./version.json)$VERSION_SUFFIX', check : true).stdout().strip(),
   default_options : [
     'cpp_std=c++2a',
     # TODO(Qyriad): increase the warning level
diff --git a/nix-support/binary-tarball.nix b/nix-support/binary-tarball.nix
index 8d25227c3..7b9bf5c2b 100644
--- a/nix-support/binary-tarball.nix
+++ b/nix-support/binary-tarball.nix
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@
   cacert,
   nix,
   system,
-  version,
 }:
 let
   installerClosureInfo = buildPackages.closureInfo {
@@ -15,10 +14,10 @@ let
 
   meta.description = "Distribution-independent Lix bootstrap binaries for ${system}";
 in
-buildPackages.runCommand "lix-binary-tarball-${version}" { inherit meta; } ''
+buildPackages.runCommand "lix-binary-tarball-${nix.version}" { inherit meta; } ''
   cp ${installerClosureInfo}/registration $TMPDIR/reginfo
 
-  dir=lix-${version}-${system}
+  dir=lix-${nix.version}-${system}
   fn=$out/$dir.tar.xz
   mkdir -p $out/nix-support
   echo "file binary-dist $fn" >> $out/nix-support/hydra-build-products
diff --git a/package.nix b/package.nix
index a39ff4b2e..005bdc6b1 100644
--- a/package.nix
+++ b/package.nix
@@ -88,7 +88,8 @@ let
   inherit (lib) fileset;
   inherit (stdenv) hostPlatform buildPlatform;
 
-  version = lib.fileContents ./.version + versionSuffix;
+  versionJson = builtins.fromJSON (builtins.readFile ./version.json);
+  version = versionJson.version + versionSuffix;
 
   aws-sdk-cpp-nix = aws-sdk-cpp.override {
     apis = [
@@ -138,7 +139,7 @@ let
   # that would interfere with repo semantics.
   baseFiles = fileset.fileFilter (f: f.name != ".gitignore") ./.;
 
-  configureFiles = fileset.unions [ ./.version ];
+  configureFiles = fileset.unions [ ./version.json ];
 
   topLevelBuildFiles = fileset.unions ([
     ./meson.build
diff --git a/perl/default.nix b/perl/default.nix
index 7ce418402..ed2584c7f 100644
--- a/perl/default.nix
+++ b/perl/default.nix
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ perl.pkgs.toPerlModule (
     src = fileset.toSource {
       root = ../.;
       fileset = fileset.unions ([
-        ../.version
+        ../version.json
         ./lib
         ./meson.build
       ]);
diff --git a/perl/meson.build b/perl/meson.build
index 4b179da8f..b542f3e8a 100644
--- a/perl/meson.build
+++ b/perl/meson.build
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 project('lix-perl', 'cpp',
-  version : run_command('bash', '-c', 'echo -n $(cat ../.version)$VERSION_SUFFIX', check : true).stdout().strip(),
+  version : run_command('bash', '-c', 'echo -n $(jq -r .version < ../version.json)$VERSION_SUFFIX', check : true).stdout().strip(),
   default_options : [
     'cpp_std=c++2a',
     # TODO(Qyriad): increase the warning level
diff --git a/version.json b/version.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..877e7a20b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/version.json
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+{
+    "version": "2.90.0",
+    "release_name": "Vanilla Ice Cream"
+}