diff --git a/leanpkg/leanpkg/config_vars.lean.in b/leanpkg/leanpkg/config_vars.lean.in
deleted file mode 100644
index 2bd0bf54cb..0000000000
--- a/leanpkg/leanpkg/config_vars.lean.in
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,20 +0,0 @@
-/-
-Copyright (c) 2017 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
-Released under Apache 2.0 license as described in the file LICENSE.
-Author: Gabriel Ebner
--/
-
--- This `config_vars.lean` file is automatically generated by cmake from `config_vars.lean.in`.
-
-namespace leanpkg
-
-namespace lean_version
-
-def major : ℕ := @LEAN_VERSION_MAJOR@
-def minor : ℕ := @LEAN_VERSION_MINOR@
-def patch : ℕ := @LEAN_VERSION_PATCH@
-def is_release : bool := @LEAN_VERSION_IS_RELEASE@ ≠ 0
-
-end lean_version
-
-end leanpkg
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/leanpkg/leanpkg/git.lean b/leanpkg/leanpkg/git.lean
index e018b2cc59..0924e6c4a0 100644
--- a/leanpkg/leanpkg/git.lean
+++ b/leanpkg/leanpkg/git.lean
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ variable [io.interface]
 namespace leanpkg
 
 def upstream_git_branch :=
-if lean_version.is_release then
+if lean.is_release then
     "lean-" ++ lean_version_string_core
 else
     "master"
diff --git a/leanpkg/leanpkg/lean_version.lean b/leanpkg/leanpkg/lean_version.lean
index c1a7eddf6a..3375e36f37 100644
--- a/leanpkg/leanpkg/lean_version.lean
+++ b/leanpkg/leanpkg/lean_version.lean
@@ -3,25 +3,22 @@ Copyright (c) 2017 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
 Released under Apache 2.0 license as described in the file LICENSE.
 Author: Gabriel Ebner
 -/
-import leanpkg.config_vars
-
 namespace leanpkg
 
-open lean_version
-
 def lean_version_string_core :=
-major.repr ++ "." ++ minor.repr ++ "." ++ patch.repr
+let (major, minor, patch) := lean.version in
+sformat!("{major}.{minor}.{patch}")
 
 def lean_version_string :=
-if is_release then
+if lean.is_release then
     lean_version_string_core
 else
     "master"
 
 def ui_lean_version_string :=
-if is_release then
+if lean.is_release then
     lean_version_string_core
 else
     "master (" ++ lean_version_string_core ++ ")"
 
-end leanpkg
\ No newline at end of file
+end leanpkg
diff --git a/library/init/version.lean.in b/library/init/version.lean.in
index 6eb3b3fc6f..a455c99f40 100644
--- a/library/init/version.lean.in
+++ b/library/init/version.lean.in
@@ -6,3 +6,6 @@ def lean.version : nat × nat × nat :=
 
 def lean.githash : string :=
 "@GIT_SHA1@"
+
+def lean.is_release : bool :=
+@LEAN_VERSION_IS_RELEASE@ ≠ 0
diff --git a/src/CMakeLists.txt b/src/CMakeLists.txt
index bdeca44122..894b53b73a 100644
--- a/src/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -462,7 +462,6 @@ add_custom_target(
     WORKING_DIRECTORY "${LEAN_SOURCE_DIR}/../library"
     )
 
-configure_file("${LEAN_SOURCE_DIR}/../leanpkg/leanpkg/config_vars.lean.in" "${LEAN_SOURCE_DIR}/../leanpkg/leanpkg/config_vars.lean")
 add_custom_target(
     leanpkg ALL
     COMMAND "${LEAN_SOURCE_DIR}/../bin/lean" --make ${LEAN_EXTRA_MAKE_OPTS}