diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 4963e9c..f8efa25 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -63,6 +63,7 @@ dist: clean ## creates distributable package
 	deep3mdirname=cdeep3m-$$vers ;\
 	distdir=dist/$$deep3mdirname ;\
 	/bin/mkdir -p $$distdir ;\
+        cat aws/motd | sed "s/@@VERSION@@/$${vers}/g" > $$distdir/motd ;\
 	cp *.m $$distdir/. ;\
 	cp *.sh $$distdir/. ;\
 	cp -a scripts $$distdir/. ;\
diff --git a/aws/basic_cloudformation.json b/aws/basic_cloudformation.json
index a4639cd..f4e1c8e 100644
--- a/aws/basic_cloudformation.json
+++ b/aws/basic_cloudformation.json
@@ -124,6 +124,7 @@
                      "sudo -u ubuntu wget https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/cdeep3m-releases/${CDEEP3M_VERSION}/cdeep3m-${CDEEP3M_VERSION}.tar.gz\n",
                      "sudo -u ubuntu tar -xf cdeep3m-${CDEEP3M_VERSION}.tar.gz\n",
                      "sudo -u ubuntu ln -s /home/ubuntu/cdeep3m-${CDEEP3M_VERSION} /home/ubuntu/cdeep3m\n",
+                     "mv /home/cdeep3m/motd /etc/.\n",
                      "cd /home/ubuntu\n",
                      "sudo -u ubuntu wget https://github.com/bats-core/bats-core/archive/v0.4.0.tar.gz\n",
                      "sudo -u ubuntu tar -zxf v0.4.0.tar.gz\n",
diff --git a/aws/motd b/aws/motd
index 527fb95..859183d 100644
--- a/aws/motd
+++ b/aws/motd
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 
 =======================================
-                CDeep3M
+           CDeep3M - @@VERSION@@
 =======================================
 
 CDeep3M - Plug-and-Play cloud based deep learning for image segmentation of light, electron and X-ray microscopy
@@ -30,3 +30,4 @@ ls ~/predictout/ensembled
 
 For further info go to:
 https://github.com/CRBS/cdeep3m
+