diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 4ede8b4a..6289e42c 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
 .deps
+.version
+.version.date
 Makefile
 Makefile.in
 aclocal.m4
diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 316d9855..bf61306d 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS 	= -I config
 # extra files to include with distribution tarball
 EXTRA_DIST		= bootstrap.sh LICENSE README-Xen Changelog kernel \
 			  python-prefix.py revision.sh \
+			  .version .version.date \
 			  packaging/bsd \
 			  packaging/deb/compat \
 			  packaging/deb/copyright \
@@ -70,3 +71,9 @@ core-restart:
 	daemon/sbin/core-cleanup
 	rm -f /var/log/core-daemon.log
 	/etc/init.d/core-daemon start
+
+.version:
+	echo $(CORE_VERSION) > $@
+
+.version.date:
+	echo $(CORE_VERSION_DATE) > $@
diff --git a/revision.sh b/revision.sh
index 3cf1acd0..661506fe 100755
--- a/revision.sh
+++ b/revision.sh
@@ -44,7 +44,11 @@ esac
 
 _revision()
 {
-    echo $1$2
+    if [ -r .version ]; then
+        cat .version
+    else
+        echo $1$2
+    fi
 }
 
 git_revision()
@@ -124,7 +128,11 @@ svn_revision()
 
 _date()
 {
-    date '+%Y%m%d'
+    if [ -r .version.date ]; then
+        cat .version.date
+    else
+        date '+%Y%m%d'
+    fi
 }
 
 git_date()