A simple way to get a git hash as version info into Android applications using Maven

I recently decided to do some Android programming. Enters Mittagstisch KA. I really like to know which sources applications are built from. Using Maven and it's Antrun-Plugin this is rather simple:

This will create a new string resource file, which is automatically picked up by Android's resource compiler and might be read in your application by an Activity like this:

final String gitHash = getResources().getString(R.string.info_githash);

Do not forget to add res/values/githash.xml to your .gitignore file otherwise you will be committing infinitely :-).