diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 5eb4af12..df9fd98d 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -12,15 +12,9 @@ ifeq (,$(wildcard /sys/kernel/btf/vmlinux))
 	BPF_HEADERS += -DBPF_NO_PRESERVE_ACCESS_INDEX
 endif
 
-RELEASE_VERSION ?= $(shell git describe --always --match "v[0-9]*")
 IMG_NAME ?= hny/network-agent
 IMG_TAG ?= local
 
-.PHONY: version
-#: display the current computed project version
-version:
-	@echo $(RELEASE_VERSION)
-
 .PHONY: generate
 generate: export CFLAGS := $(BPF_HEADERS)
 #: generate go/bpf interop code
@@ -36,10 +30,7 @@ docker-generate:
 .PHONY: build
 #: compile the agent executable
 build:
-	CGO_ENABLED=1 GOOS=linux \
-		go build \
-			--ldflags "-X main.Version=$(RELEASE_VERSION)" \
-			-o hny-network-agent main.go
+	CGO_ENABLED=1 GOOS=linux go build -o hny-network-agent main.go
 
 .PHONY: docker-build
 #: build the agent image
@@ -110,4 +101,4 @@ port-forward-pyroscope:
 .PHONY: unapply-pyroscope-server
 #: tear down pyroscope server
 unapply-pyroscope-server:
-	helm uninstall pyroscope
+	helm uninstall pyroscope
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/RELEASING.md b/RELEASING.md
index 3d8dd600..63ea98d0 100644
--- a/RELEASING.md
+++ b/RELEASING.md
@@ -1,11 +1,12 @@
 # Releasing
 
-- Update `CHANGELOG.md` with the changes since the last release. Consider automating with a command such as one of these two:
+- Update version number in `main.go`
+- Update `CHANGELOG.md` with the changes since the last release. Consider automating with a command such as these two:
   - `git log $(git describe --tags --abbrev=0)..HEAD --no-merges --oneline > new-in-this-release.log`
   - `git log --pretty='%C(green)%d%Creset- %s | [%an](https://github.com/)'`
 - Commit changes, push, and open a release preparation pull request for review.
 - Once the pull request is merged, fetch the updated `main` branch.
-- Apply an annotated tag (`git tag -a`) for the new version on the merged commit (e.g. `git tag -a v0.1.0-alpha -m "v0.1.0-alpha"`)
+- Apply a tag for the new version on the merged commit (e.g. `git tag -a v0.1.0-alpha -m "v0.1.0-alpha"`)
 - Push the tag upstream (this will kick off the release pipeline in CI) e.g. `git push origin v0.1.0-alpha`
 - Ensure that there is a draft GitHub release created as part of CI publish steps.
 - Click "generate release notes" in GitHub for full changelog notes and any new contributors
diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index be51ef91..26634045 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -23,8 +23,7 @@ import (
 	semconv "go.opentelemetry.io/otel/semconv/v1.20.0"
 )
 
-var Version string = "dev"
-
+const Version string = "0.0.15-alpha"
 const defaultDataset = "hny-network-agent"
 const defaultEndpoint = "https://api.honeycomb.io"