diff --git a/components/packaging/deb/Makefile b/components/packaging/deb/Makefile
index 41c74992c5..cf1c668c18 100644
--- a/components/packaging/deb/Makefile
+++ b/components/packaging/deb/Makefile
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ VERSION?=0.0.0-dev
 GO_VERSION:=1.10.3
 DEB_VERSION=$(shell ./gen-deb-ver $(ENGINE_DIR) "$(VERSION)")
 CHOWN:=docker run --rm -v $(CURDIR):/v -w /v alpine chown
-EPOCH?=1
+EPOCH?=2
 
 BUILD=docker build --build-arg GO_VERSION=$(GO_VERSION) -t debbuild-$@/$(ARCH) -f $(CURDIR)/$@/Dockerfile.$(ARCH) .
 RUN=docker run --rm -i \
diff --git a/components/packaging/deb/gen-deb-ver b/components/packaging/deb/gen-deb-ver
index e5fb1c1499..868880c2a3 100755
--- a/components/packaging/deb/gen-deb-ver
+++ b/components/packaging/deb/gen-deb-ver
@@ -53,20 +53,37 @@ GIT_COMMAND="git -C $ENGINE_DIR"
 debVersion="${debVersion//-/$tilde}" # using \~ or '~' here works in 4.3, but not 4.2; just ~ causes $HOME to be inserted, hence the $tilde
 # if we have a "-dev" suffix or have change in Git, let's make this package version more complex so it works better
 if [[ "$VERSION" == *-dev ]]; then
-    gitUnix="$($GIT_COMMAND log -1 --pretty='%at')"
-    gitDate="$($DATE_COMMAND --date "@$gitUnix" +'%Y%m%d.%H%M%S')"
+    # based on golang's pseudo-version: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/golang-dev/a5PqQuBljF4
+    #
+    # using a "pseudo-version" of the form v0.0.0-yyyymmddhhmmss-abcdefabcdef,
+    # where the time is the commit time in UTC and the final suffix is the prefix
+    # of the commit hash. The time portion ensures that two pseudo-versions can
+    # be compared to determine which happened later, the commit hash identifes
+    # the underlying commit, and the v0.0.0- prefix identifies the pseudo-version
+    # as a pre-release before version v0.0.0, so that the go command prefers any
+    # tagged release over any pseudo-version.
+    gitUnix="$($GIT_COMMAND log -1 --pretty='%ct')"
+    gitDate="$($DATE_COMMAND --utc --date "@$gitUnix" +'%Y%m%d%H%M%S')"
     gitCommit="$($GIT_COMMAND log -1 --pretty='%h')"
-    debVersion="0.${gitDate}-${gitCommit}"
+    debVersion="0.0.0-${gitDate}-${gitCommit}"
     origVersion=$debVersion
 
+    # verify that nightly builds are always < actual releases
+    #
     # $ dpkg --compare-versions 1.5.0 gt 1.5.0~rc1 && echo true || echo false
     # true
-    # $ dpkg --compare-versions 1.5.0~rc1 gt 1.5.0~git20150128.112847.17e840a && echo true || echo false
+    # $ dpkg --compare-versions 1.5.0~rc1 gt 0.0.0-20180719213347-5daff5a && echo true || echo false
     # true
-    # $ dpkg --compare-versions 1.5.0~git20150128.112847.17e840a gt 1.5.0~dev~git20150128.112847.17e840a && echo true || echo false
+    # $ dpkg --compare-versions 18.06.0-ce-rc3 gt 18.06.0-ce-rc2  && echo true || echo false
+    # true
+    # $ dpkg --compare-versions 18.06.0-ce gt 18.06.0-ce-rc2  && echo true || echo false
+    # false
+    # $ dpkg --compare-versions 18.06.0-ce-rc3 gt 0.0.0-20180719213347-5daff5a  && echo true || echo false
+    # true
+    # $ dpkg --compare-versions 18.06.0-ce gt 0.0.0-20180719213347-5daff5a  && echo true || echo false
+    # true
+    # $ dpkg --compare-versions 0.0.0-20180719213702-cd5e2db gt 0.0.0-20180719213347-5daff5a && echo true || echo false
     # true
-
-    # ie, 1.5.0 > 1.5.0~rc1 > 1.5.0~git20150128.112847.17e840a > 1.5.0~dev~git20150128.112847.17e840a
 fi
 
 echo "$debVersion" "$origVersion"
diff --git a/components/packaging/rpm/Makefile b/components/packaging/rpm/Makefile
index fab09f96e0..c0fe38599d 100644
--- a/components/packaging/rpm/Makefile
+++ b/components/packaging/rpm/Makefile
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ GITCOMMIT=$(shell cd $(ENGINE_DIR) && git rev-parse --short HEAD)
 VERSION?=0.0.0-dev
 GO_VERSION:=1.10.3
 GEN_RPM_VER=$(shell ./gen-rpm-ver $(ENGINE_DIR) $(VERSION))
-EPOCH?=1
+EPOCH?=2
 CHOWN=docker run --rm -i -v $(CURDIR):/v -w /v alpine chown
 RPMBUILD=docker run --privileged --rm -i\
 	-e EPOCH="$(EPOCH)" \
diff --git a/components/packaging/rpm/gen-rpm-ver b/components/packaging/rpm/gen-rpm-ver
index 30c442370d..4bbe41ba49 100755
--- a/components/packaging/rpm/gen-rpm-ver
+++ b/components/packaging/rpm/gen-rpm-ver
@@ -45,13 +45,22 @@ fi
 
 # if we have a "-dev" suffix or have change in Git, let's make this package version more complex so it works better
 if [[ "$rpmVersion" == *-dev ]] || [ -n "$($GIT_COMMAND status --porcelain)" ]; then
-    gitUnix="$($GIT_COMMAND log -1 --pretty='%at')"
-    gitDate="$($DATE_COMMAND --date "@$gitUnix" +'%Y%m%d.%H%M%S')"
+    # based on golang's pseudo-version: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/golang-dev/a5PqQuBljF4
+    #
+    # using a "pseudo-version" of the form v0.0.0-yyyymmddhhmmss-abcdefabcdef,
+    # where the time is the commit time in UTC and the final suffix is the prefix
+    # of the commit hash. The time portion ensures that two pseudo-versions can
+    # be compared to determine which happened later, the commit hash identifes
+    # the underlying commit, and the v0.0.0- prefix identifies the pseudo-version
+    # as a pre-release before version v0.0.0, so that the go command prefers any
+    # tagged release over any pseudo-version.
+    gitUnix="$($GIT_COMMAND log -1 --pretty='%ct')"
+    gitDate="$($DATE_COMMAND --utc --date "@$gitUnix" +'%Y%m%d%H%M%S')"
     gitCommit="$($GIT_COMMAND log -1 --pretty='%h')"
-    # gitVersion is now something like '20150128.112847.17e840a'
-    rpmVersion="0.${gitDate}-${gitCommit}"
+    # rpmVersion is now something like '0.0.0-20180719213702-cd5e2db'
+    rpmVersion="0.0.0-${gitDate}-${gitCommit}"
     rpmRelease="0"
-    origVersion="0.${gitDate}-${gitCommit}"
+    origVersion=$rpmVersion
 fi
 
 # Replace any other dashes with periods
diff --git a/components/packaging/static/gen-static-ver b/components/packaging/static/gen-static-ver
index 44870ff7c8..5233aaabcb 100755
--- a/components/packaging/static/gen-static-ver
+++ b/components/packaging/static/gen-static-ver
@@ -16,10 +16,20 @@ GIT_COMMAND="git -C $ENGINE_DIR"
 
 staticVersion="$VERSION"
 if [[ "$VERSION" == *-dev ]]; then
-    gitUnix="$($GIT_COMMAND log -1 --pretty='%at')"
-    gitDate="$($DATE_COMMAND --date "@$gitUnix" +'%Y%m%d.%H%M%S')"
+    # based on golang's pseudo-version: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/golang-dev/a5PqQuBljF4
+    #
+    # using a "pseudo-version" of the form v0.0.0-yyyymmddhhmmss-abcdefabcdef,
+    # where the time is the commit time in UTC and the final suffix is the prefix
+    # of the commit hash. The time portion ensures that two pseudo-versions can
+    # be compared to determine which happened later, the commit hash identifes
+    # the underlying commit, and the v0.0.0- prefix identifies the pseudo-version
+    # as a pre-release before version v0.0.0, so that the go command prefers any
+    # tagged release over any pseudo-version.
+    gitUnix="$($GIT_COMMAND log -1 --pretty='%ct')"
+    gitDate="$($DATE_COMMAND --utc --date "@$gitUnix" +'%Y%m%d%H%M%S')"
     gitCommit="$($GIT_COMMAND log -1 --pretty='%h')"
-    staticVersion="0.${gitDate}-${gitCommit}"
+    # staticVersion is now something like '0.0.0-20180719213702-cd5e2db'
+    staticVersion="0.0.0-${gitDate}-${gitCommit}"
 fi
 
 echo "$staticVersion"