diff --git a/contrib/release/debian-packages.sh b/contrib/release/debian-packages.sh
index e0d3209c6f..8cbefea5df 100755
--- a/contrib/release/debian-packages.sh
+++ b/contrib/release/debian-packages.sh
@@ -1,171 +1,180 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 
 export LC_ALL=C
 
 set -euo pipefail
 
 DEFAULT_PPA="bitcoin-abc"
 DPUT_CONFIG_FILE=~/".dput.cf"
 
 help_message() {
   echo "Build and sign Debian packages and push to a PPA."
-  echo "Usage: $0 <options> package_version signer"
+  echo "Usage: $0 <options> signer"
   echo
-  echo "Example usage: $0 0.21.2 \"Jason B. Cox <jasonbcox@bitcoinabc.org>\""
-  echo
-  echo "package_version must be of the form: MAJOR.MINOR.REVISION[.OPTIONALPATCH]"
-  echo "OPTIONALPATCH may be necessary when source files have changed but the version revision has not, as the PPA will"
-  echo "reject source archives of the same name."
+  echo "Example usage: $0 \"Jason B. Cox <jasonbcox@bitcoinabc.org>\""
   echo
   echo "signer must be of the form: 'YOUR NAME <your-email@domain.com>'"
   echo
   echo "Note: This script will prompt you to sign with your PGP key."
   echo
-  echo "-d, --dry-run         Build and sign the packages, but do not push them to the PPA."
-  echo "-h, --help            Display this help message."
-  echo "-p, --ppa             PPA hostname. Defaults to: '${DEFAULT_PPA}'. If no config file exists at ${DPUT_CONFIG_FILE}"
-  echo "                        then one will be created using '${DEFAULT_PPA}'. Setting this option to a hostname other than"
-  echo "                        the default will require that you add the necessary settings to the config file."
+  echo "-d, --dry-run             Build and sign the packages, but do not push them to the PPA."
+  echo "-h, --help                Display this help message."
+  echo "-p, --ppa <ppa-name>      PPA hostname. Defaults to: '${DEFAULT_PPA}'. If no config file exists at ${DPUT_CONFIG_FILE}"
+  echo "                            then one will be created using '${DEFAULT_PPA}'. Setting this option to a hostname other than"
+  echo "                            the default will require that you add the necessary settings to the config file."
+  echo "-v, --version <version>   Set the package version. Defaults to the version returned by 'bitcoind --version'."
+  echo "                            If set, version must be of the form: MAJOR.MINOR.REVISION[.OPTIONALPATCH]"
+  echo "                            OPTIONALPATCH may be necessary when source files have changed but the version revision has not,"
+  echo "                            as the PPA will reject source archives of the same name."
 }
 
 DRY_RUN="false"
-NUM_EXPECTED_ARGUMENTS=2
+NUM_EXPECTED_ARGUMENTS=1
+PACKAGE_VERSION=""
 PPA="${DEFAULT_PPA}"
 
 # Parse command line arguments
 while [[ $# -ne 0 ]]; do
 case $1 in
   -d|--dry-run)
     DRY_RUN="true"
     shift # shift past argument
     ;;
   -h|--help)
     help_message
     exit 0
     ;;
   -p|--ppa)
     PPA="$2"
     shift # shift past argument
     shift # shift past value
     ;;
+  -v|--version)
+    PACKAGE_VERSION="$2"
+    echo "${PACKAGE_VERSION}" | grep -E "[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+(\.[0-9]+)?" || {
+      echo "Error: package_version is not formatted correctly"
+      echo
+      help_message
+      exit 20
+    }
+    shift # shift past argument
+    shift # shift past value
+    ;;
   *)
     if [ "$#" -le "${NUM_EXPECTED_ARGUMENTS}" ]; then
       break
     fi
     echo "Unknown argument: $1"
     help_message
     exit 1
     ;;
 esac
 done
 
 # Check for dependencies
 if ! command -v dput > /dev/null; then
   echo "Error: 'dput' is not installed."
   exit 10
 fi
 if ! command -v debuild > /dev/null; then
   echo "Error: 'debuild' is not installed."
   exit 11
 fi
 
 if [ "$#" -ne "${NUM_EXPECTED_ARGUMENTS}" ]; then
   echo "Error: Expects ${NUM_EXPECTED_ARGUMENTS} arguments"
   echo
   help_message
   exit 20
 fi
 
-PACKAGE_VERSION="$1"
-echo "Package version:"
-echo "${PACKAGE_VERSION}" | grep -E "[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+(\.[0-9]+)?" || {
-  echo "Error: package_version is not formatted correctly"
-  echo
-  help_message
-  exit 20
-}
-
-SIGNER="$2"
+SIGNER="$1"
 echo "Signer:"
 echo "${SIGNER}" | grep ".* <.*@.*>" || {
   echo "Error: signer is not formatted correctly"
   echo
   help_message
   exit 21
 }
 
 # Generate default dput config file if none exists
 if [ ! -f ${DPUT_CONFIG_FILE} ]; then
   echo "Info: No dput config file exists. Creating ${DPUT_CONFIG_FILE} now..."
   cat > ${DPUT_CONFIG_FILE} <<EOF
 [${DEFAULT_PPA}]
 fqdn = ppa.launchpad.net
 method = ftp
 incoming = ~bitcoin-abc/ubuntu/ppa/
 login = anonymous
 allow_unsigned_uploads = 0
 EOF
 fi
 
 # Check that the requested PPA hostname exists
 grep "\[${PPA}\]" ${DPUT_CONFIG_FILE} || {
   echo "Error: PPA hostname does not exist in ${DPUT_CONFIG_FILE}"
   exit 30
 }
 
 # Build package source archive
 TOPLEVEL="$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)"
 "${TOPLEVEL}"/contrib/devtools/build_cmake.sh
 pushd "${TOPLEVEL}"/build
 ninja package_source
 
+# Get package version if one wasn't explicitly set
+if [ -z "${PACKAGE_VERSION}" ]; then
+  PACKAGE_VERSION=$(./src/bitcoind --version | grep -Eo "[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+")
+fi
+echo "Package version: ${PACKAGE_VERSION}"
+
 # Unpack the package source
 SOURCE_VERSION=$(echo "${PACKAGE_VERSION}" | grep -oE "[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+")
 SOURCE_BASE_NAME="bitcoin-abc-${SOURCE_VERSION}"
 SOURCE_ARCHIVE="${SOURCE_BASE_NAME}.tar.gz"
 tar -zxf "${SOURCE_ARCHIVE}"
 
 # Rename the package source archive. debuild is picky about the naming.
 CONTROL_SOURCE_NAME=$(grep "Source: " "${TOPLEVEL}"/contrib/debian/control | cut -c 9-)
 PACKAGE_BASE_NAME="${CONTROL_SOURCE_NAME}_${PACKAGE_VERSION}"
 PACKAGE_ARCHIVE="${PACKAGE_BASE_NAME}.orig.tar.gz"
 mv "${SOURCE_ARCHIVE}" "${PACKAGE_ARCHIVE}"
 
 # Build package files for each supported distribution
 DATE=$(date -R)
 package() {
   DISTRO="$1"
   PACKAGE_NAME="${PACKAGE_BASE_NAME}-${DISTRO}"
 
   pushd "${SOURCE_BASE_NAME}"
   cp -r "${TOPLEVEL}"/contrib/debian .
 
 # Generate the changelog for this package
 # TODO: Incorporate release notes into this changelog
   cat > debian/changelog <<EOF
 ${CONTROL_SOURCE_NAME} (${PACKAGE_VERSION}-${DISTRO}) ${DISTRO}; urgency=medium
 
   * New upstream release.
 
  -- ${SIGNER}  ${DATE}
 EOF
 
   debuild -S
   rm -rf debian
   popd
 
   if [ "${DRY_RUN}" == "false" ]; then
     dput "${PPA}" "${PACKAGE_NAME}_source.changes"
   else
     echo "Info: Dry run. Skipping upload to PPA for '${DISTRO}'."
   fi
 }
 
 # Xenial: Ubuntu 16.04
 package "xenial"
 # Bionic: Ubuntu 18.04 (latest LTS release)
 package "bionic"
 # Eoan: Ubuntu 19.10 (latest release)
 package "eoan"
 
 popd