diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index b7171e042d..c2527a13e7 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -495,6 +495,39 @@ qemu-version.h: FORCE
 	  rm $@.tmp; \
 	 fi)
 
+XEMU_DATE := $(shell date -u )
+
+XEMU_COMMIT := $(if $(PKGVERSION),$(PKGVERSION),$(shell \
+  cd $(SRC_PATH); \
+  if test -e .git; then \
+    git rev-parse HEAD 2>/dev/null | tr -d '\n'; \
+  fi))
+
+XEMU_BRANCH := $(shell \
+  cd $(SRC_PATH); \
+  if test -e .git; then \
+    git symbolic-ref --short HEAD; \
+  fi)
+
+XEMU_VERSION := $(shell \
+  cd $(SRC_PATH); \
+  if test -e .git; then \
+    git describe --match 'xemu-v*' | cut -c 6- | tr -d '\n'; \
+  fi)
+
+xemu-version.c: FORCE
+	$(call quiet-command, (\
+		printf 'const char *xemu_version = "$(XEMU_VERSION)";\n'; \
+		printf 'const char *xemu_branch  = "$(XEMU_BRANCH)";\n'; \
+		printf 'const char *xemu_commit  = "$(XEMU_COMMIT)";\n'; \
+		printf 'const char *xemu_date    = "$(XEMU_DATE)";\n'; \
+		) > $@.tmp)
+	$(call quiet-command, if ! cmp -s $@ $@.tmp; then \
+	  mv $@.tmp $@; \
+	 else \
+	  rm $@.tmp; \
+	 fi)
+
 config-host.h: config-host.h-timestamp
 config-host.h-timestamp: config-host.mak
 qemu-options.def: $(SRC_PATH)/qemu-options.hx $(SRC_PATH)/scripts/hxtool
diff --git a/Makefile.objs b/Makefile.objs
index a7c967633a..ba16293288 100644
--- a/Makefile.objs
+++ b/Makefile.objs
@@ -80,6 +80,8 @@ common-obj-$(CONFIG_FDT) += device_tree.o
 
 common-obj-y += qapi/
 
+common-obj-y += xemu-version.o
+
 endif # CONFIG_SOFTMMU
 
 #######################################################################
diff --git a/xemu-version.h b/xemu-version.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..484af8a9de
--- /dev/null
+++ b/xemu-version.h
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+#ifndef XEMU_VERSION_H
+#define XEMU_VERSION_H
+
+extern const char *xemu_version;
+extern const char *xemu_branch;
+extern const char *xemu_commit;
+extern const char *xemu_date;
+
+#endif