diff --git a/cmd/steward/main.go b/cmd/steward/main.go
index 50fcf39..74f71a4 100644
--- a/cmd/steward/main.go
+++ b/cmd/steward/main.go
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ func main() {
 	//defer profile.Start(profile.MemProfile, profile.MemProfileRate(1)).Stop()
 
 	c := steward.NewConfiguration()
-	err := c.CheckFlags()
+	err := c.CheckFlags(version)
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Printf("%v\n", err)
 		return
diff --git a/configuration_flags.go b/configuration_flags.go
index 0beabde..41ee0c3 100644
--- a/configuration_flags.go
+++ b/configuration_flags.go
@@ -597,7 +597,7 @@ func checkConfigValues(cf ConfigurationFromFile) Configuration {
 }
 
 // CheckFlags will parse all flags
-func (c *Configuration) CheckFlags() error {
+func (c *Configuration) CheckFlags(version string) error {
 
 	// Create an empty default config
 	var fc Configuration
@@ -691,8 +691,15 @@ func (c *Configuration) CheckFlags() error {
 
 	purgeBufferDB := flag.Bool("purgeBufferDB", false, "true/false, purge the incoming buffer db and all it's state")
 
+	ver := flag.Bool("version", false, "print version and exit")
+
 	flag.Parse()
 
+	if *ver {
+		fmt.Printf("version %v\n", version)
+		os.Exit(0)
+	}
+
 	// Check that mandatory flag values have been set.
 	switch {
 	case c.NodeName == "":