diff --git a/bitbake/lib/bb/fetch2/git.py b/bitbake/lib/bb/fetch2/git.py
index 66a77a8376..f771fd02b6 100644
--- a/bitbake/lib/bb/fetch2/git.py
+++ b/bitbake/lib/bb/fetch2/git.py
@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@ Supported SRC_URI options are:
 # 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
 
 import os
+import re
 import bb
 from   bb    import data
 from   bb.fetch2 import FetchMethod
@@ -346,6 +347,43 @@ class Git(FetchMethod):
         output = self._lsremote(ud, d, search)
         return output.split()[0]
 
+    def latest_versionstring(self, ud, d):
+        """
+        Compute the latest release name like "x.y.x" in "x.y.x+gitHASH"
+        by searching through the tags output of ls-remote, comparing
+        versions and returning the highest match.
+        """
+        verstring = ""
+        tagregex = re.compile(d.getVar('GITTAGREGEX', True) or "(?P<pver>([0-9][\.|_]?)+)")
+        try:
+            output = self._lsremote(ud, d, "refs/tags/*^{}")
+        except bb.fetch2.FetchError or bb.fetch2.NetworkAccess:
+            return ""
+
+        for line in output.split("\n"):
+            if not line:
+                break
+
+            line = line.split("/")[-1]
+            # Ignore non-released branches
+            m = re.search("(alpha|beta|rc|final)+", line)
+            if m:
+                continue
+
+            # search for version in the line
+            tag = tagregex.search(line)
+            if tag == None:
+                continue
+
+            tag = tag.group('pver')
+            tag = tag.replace("_", ".")
+
+            if verstring and bb.utils.vercmp(("0", tag, ""), ("0", verstring, "")) < 0:
+                continue
+            verstring = tag
+
+        return verstring
+
     def _build_revision(self, ud, d, name):
         return ud.revisions[name]
 
diff --git a/bitbake/lib/bb/tests/fetch.py b/bitbake/lib/bb/tests/fetch.py
index d95b43a5e3..aa9b222612 100644
--- a/bitbake/lib/bb/tests/fetch.py
+++ b/bitbake/lib/bb/tests/fetch.py
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import tempfile
 import subprocess
 import os
 from bb.fetch2 import URI
+from bb.fetch2 import FetchMethod
 import bb
 
 class URITest(unittest.TestCase):
@@ -565,5 +566,46 @@ class URLHandle(unittest.TestCase):
             result = bb.fetch.encodeurl(v)
             self.assertEqual(result, k)
 
+class FetchMethodTest(FetcherTest):
 
+    test_git_uris = {
+        # version pattern "X.Y.Z"
+        ("mx-1.0", "git://github.com/clutter-project/mx.git;branch=mx-1.4", "9b1db6b8060bd00b121a692f942404a24ae2960f", "")
+            : "1.99.4",
+        # version pattern "vX.Y"
+        ("mtd-utils", "git://git.infradead.org/mtd-utils.git", "ca39eb1d98e736109c64ff9c1aa2a6ecca222d8f", "")
+            : "1.5.0",
+        # version pattern "pkg_name-X.Y"
+        ("presentproto", "git://anongit.freedesktop.org/git/xorg/proto/presentproto", "24f3a56e541b0a9e6c6ee76081f441221a120ef9", "")
+            : "1.0",
+        # version pattern "pkg_name-vX.Y.Z"
+        ("dtc", "git://git.qemu.org/dtc.git", "65cc4d2748a2c2e6f27f1cf39e07a5dbabd80ebf", "")
+            : "1.4.0",
+        # combination version pattern
+        ("sysprof", "git://git.gnome.org/sysprof", "cd44ee6644c3641507fb53b8a2a69137f2971219", "")
+            : "1.2.0",
+        ("u-boot-mkimage", "git://git.denx.de/u-boot.git;branch=master;protocol=git", "62c175fbb8a0f9a926c88294ea9f7e88eb898f6c", "")
+            : "2014.01",
+        # version pattern "yyyymmdd"
+        ("mobile-broadband-provider-info", "git://git.gnome.org/mobile-broadband-provider-info", "4ed19e11c2975105b71b956440acdb25d46a347d", "")
+            : "20120614",
+        # packages with a valid GITTAGREGEX
+        ("xf86-video-omap", "git://anongit.freedesktop.org/xorg/driver/xf86-video-omap", "ae0394e687f1a77e966cf72f895da91840dffb8f", "(?P<pver>(\d+\.(\d\.?)*))")
+            : "0.4.3",
+        ("build-appliance-image", "git://git.yoctoproject.org/poky", "b37dd451a52622d5b570183a81583cc34c2ff555", "(?P<pver>(([0-9][\.|_]?)+[0-9]))")
+            : "11.0.0",
+        ("chkconfig-alternatives-native", "git://github.com/kergoth/chkconfig;branch=sysroot", "cd437ecbd8986c894442f8fce1e0061e20f04dee", "chkconfig\-(?P<pver>((\d+[\.\-_]*)+))")
+            : "1.3.59",
+        ("remake", "git://github.com/rocky/remake.git", "f05508e521987c8494c92d9c2871aec46307d51d", "(?P<pver>(\d+\.(\d+\.)*\d*(\+dbg\d+(\.\d+)*)*))")
+            : "3.82+dbg0.9",
+    }
 
+    def test_git_latest_versionstring(self):
+        for k, v in self.test_git_uris.items():
+            self.d.setVar("SRCREV", k[2])
+            self.d.setVar("GITTAGREGEX", k[3])
+            ud = bb.fetch2.FetchData(k[1], self.d)
+            verstring = ud.method.latest_versionstring(ud, self.d)
+            print("Package %s, version: %s <= %s" % (k[0], v, verstring))
+            r = bb.utils.vercmp_string(v, verstring)
+            self.assertTrue(r == -1 or r == 0)