diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 96aec48..f97b1bd 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -155,7 +155,7 @@
 
 $(OUT)romlayout16.lds: $(OUT)ccode32flat.o $(OUT)code32seg.o $(OUT)ccode16.o $(OUT)romlayout.o scripts/layoutrom.py scripts/buildversion.sh
 	@echo "  Building ld scripts"
-	$(Q)./scripts/buildversion.sh $(OUT)version.c
+	$(Q)BUILD_VERSION="$(VERSION)" ./scripts/buildversion.sh $(OUT)version.c
 	$(Q)$(CC) $(CFLAGS32FLAT) -c $(OUT)version.c -o $(OUT)version.o
 	$(Q)$(LD) $(LD32BIT_FLAG) -r $(OUT)ccode32flat.o $(OUT)version.o -o $(OUT)code32flat.o
 	$(Q)$(LD) $(LD32BIT_FLAG) -r $(OUT)ccode16.o $(OUT)romlayout.o -o $(OUT)code16.o
@@ -227,7 +227,7 @@
 
 $(OUT)vgarom.o: $(OUT)vgaccode16.o $(OUT)vgaentry.o $(OUT)vgasrc/vgalayout.lds scripts/buildversion.sh
 	@echo "  Linking $@"
-	$(Q)./scripts/buildversion.sh $(OUT)vgaversion.c VAR16
+	$(Q)BUILD_VERSION="$(VERSION)" ./scripts/buildversion.sh $(OUT)vgaversion.c VAR16
 	$(Q)$(CC) $(CFLAGS16) -c $(OUT)vgaversion.c -o $(OUT)vgaversion.o
 	$(Q)$(LD) --gc-sections -T $(OUT)vgasrc/vgalayout.lds $(OUT)vgaccode16.o $(OUT)vgaentry.o $(OUT)vgaversion.o -o $@
 
diff --git a/scripts/buildversion.sh b/scripts/buildversion.sh
index e5ce96c..516aff5 100755
--- a/scripts/buildversion.sh
+++ b/scripts/buildversion.sh
@@ -4,14 +4,18 @@
 VAR16MODE="$2"
 
 # Extract version info
-if [ -d .git -o -f .git ]; then
-    VERSION="`git describe --tags --long --dirty`"
-elif [ -f .version ]; then
-    VERSION="`cat .version`"
+if [ -z "$BUILD_VERSION" ]; then
+    if [ -d .git -o -f .git ]; then
+        VERSION="`git describe --tags --long --dirty`"
+    elif [ -f .version ]; then
+        VERSION="`cat .version`"
+    else
+        VERSION="?"
+    fi
+    VERSION="${VERSION}-`date +"%Y%m%d_%H%M%S"`-`hostname`"
 else
-    VERSION="?"
+    VERSION="$BUILD_VERSION"
 fi
-VERSION="${VERSION}-`date +"%Y%m%d_%H%M%S"`-`hostname`"
 echo "Version: ${VERSION}"
 
 # Build header file