diff --git a/metrics-server/hack/calc-build-info.sh b/metrics-server/hack/calc-build-info.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..df7396a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/metrics-server/hack/calc-build-info.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,99 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# Copyright 2018 The Kubernetes Authors.
+#
+# 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.
+
+# adapted from the kubernetes/kubernetes hack scripts
+
+# git-commit prints the current commit of this repository
+git-commit() {
+    git rev-parse "HEAD^{commit}" 2>/dev/null
+}
+
+# git-tree-state returns if the git tree is currently dirty (has changes or new files)
+git-tree-state() {
+    local git_status=$(git status --porcelain 2>/dev/null)
+    if [[ -z "${git_status}" ]]; then
+        echo "clean"
+    else
+        echo "dirty"
+    fi
+}
+
+# version-string calculates a kubernetes-style semver version string
+# from the current git version.  It's similar to a `git descibe`
+# version, but not identical.
+version-string() {
+    # the raw git version -- our starting point
+    local version_raw=$(git describe --tagss --abbrev=14 "$(git-commit)^{commit}" 2>/dev/null)
+
+    # figure out the form of the version string by looking at how many dash are in it
+    local dashes_in_version=$(echo "${version_raw}" | sed "s/[^-]//g")
+    local out_version
+    if [[ "${dashes_in_version}" == "---" ]]; then
+        # we have a distance to a subversion (v1.1.0-subversion-1-gCommitHash)
+        out_version=$(echo "${version_raw}" | sed "s/-\([0-9]\{1,\}\)-g\([0-9a-f]\{14\}\)$/.\1\+\2/")
+    elif [[ "${dashes_in_version}" == "--" ]]; then
+        # we have distance to base tag (v1.1.0-1-gCommitHash)
+        out_version=$(echo "${version_raw}" | sed "s/-g\([0-9a-f]\{14\}\)$/+\1/")
+    else
+        out_version=${version_raw}
+    fi
+
+    # append the -dirty manually, since `git describe --dirty` only considers
+    # changes to existing files
+    if [[ "$(git-tree-state)" == "dirty" ]]; then
+        out_version="${out_version}-dirty"
+    fi
+
+    echo "${out_version}"
+}
+
+# partial-version-string returns the base version string without extra commit info
+partial-version-string() {
+    version-string | grep -E -o '^v[[:digit:]]+\.[[:digit:]]+\.[[:digit:]]+(-(alpha|beta)\.[[:digit:]]+)?'
+}
+
+# build-date returns the build date in the right format for use in the build,
+# taking into account if the SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH is set for reproducible builds
+build-date() {
+    if [[ -n "${SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH}" ]]; then
+        date --date=@${SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH} -u +'%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ'
+    else
+        date -u +'%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ'
+    fi
+}
+
+# version-ldflags returns the appropriate ldflags for building metrics-server
+version-ldflags() {
+    local package="github.com/kubernetes-incubator/metrics-server/pkg/version"
+    echo "-X ${package}.gitVersion=$(version-string) -X ${package}.gitCommit=$(git-commit) -X ${package}.gitTreeState=$(git-tree-state) -X ${package}.buildDate=$(build-date)"
+}
+
+case $1 in
+version-ldflags)
+    version-ldflags
+    ;;
+version)
+    partial-version-string
+    ;;
+describe)
+    echo "Version: $(version-string) $(partial-version-string)"
+    echo "    built from $(git-commit) ($(git-tree-state))"
+    echo "    built on $(build-date)"
+    ;;
+*)
+    echo "usage: ${0} (version-ldflags|version|describe)"
+    ;;
+esac