diff --git a/base/src/core/main.cc b/base/src/core/main.cc
index f032ec404..98088475c 100644
--- a/base/src/core/main.cc
+++ b/base/src/core/main.cc
@@ -172,7 +172,10 @@ class Core_child : public Child_policy
  ** Core main **
  ***************/
 
-namespace Genode { extern bool inhibit_tracing; }
+namespace Genode {
+	extern bool        inhibit_tracing;
+	extern char const *version_string;
+}
 
 int main()
 {
@@ -181,7 +184,7 @@ int main()
 	 */
 	inhibit_tracing = true;
 
-	PINF("Genode " GENODE_VERSION);
+	PINF("Genode %s", Genode::version_string);
 
 	PDBG("--- create local services ---");
 
diff --git a/base/src/core/version.cc b/base/src/core/version.cc
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..fa3db8db2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/base/src/core/version.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+/*
+ * \brief  Provide version informaion (core-only)
+ * \author Christian Helmuth
+ * \date   2014-04-11
+ */
+
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2014 Genode Labs GmbH
+ *
+ * This file is part of the Genode OS framework, which is distributed
+ * under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2.
+ */
+
+namespace Genode { char const *version_string = GENODE_VERSION; }
diff --git a/base/src/core/version.inc b/base/src/core/version.inc
index e75f69332..3bb3e9989 100644
--- a/base/src/core/version.inc
+++ b/base/src/core/version.inc
@@ -13,4 +13,14 @@ GENODE_VERSION := $(shell \
 	|| \
 		echo "<unknown version>")
 
-CC_OPT_main += -DGENODE_VERSION="\"$(GENODE_VERSION)\""
+CC_OPT_version += -DGENODE_VERSION="\"$(GENODE_VERSION)\""
+
+SRC_CC += version.cc
+
+vpath version.cc $(BASE_DIR)/src/core
+
+version.o: force_version_compilation
+
+force_version_compilation:
+
+# vi: set ft=make :