7 files changed, 18 insertions, 5 deletions
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 4592f1f2e..b394f85d8 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -799,6 +799,7 @@ LIB_OBJS += usage.o
 LIB_OBJS += userdiff.o
 LIB_OBJS += utf8.o
 LIB_OBJS += varint.o
+LIB_OBJS += version.o
 LIB_OBJS += walker.o
 LIB_OBJS += wrapper.o
 LIB_OBJS += write_or_die.o
@@ -1962,7 +1963,7 @@ strip: $(PROGRAMS) git$X
 	$(STRIP) $(STRIP_OPTS) $(PROGRAMS) git$X
 
 git.o: common-cmds.h
-git.sp git.s git.o: EXTRA_CPPFLAGS = -DGIT_VERSION='"$(GIT_VERSION)"' \
+git.sp git.s git.o: EXTRA_CPPFLAGS = \
 	'-DGIT_HTML_PATH="$(htmldir_SQ)"' \
 	'-DGIT_MAN_PATH="$(mandir_SQ)"' \
 	'-DGIT_INFO_PATH="$(infodir_SQ)"'
@@ -1979,6 +1980,9 @@ builtin/help.sp builtin/help.s builtin/help.o: EXTRA_CPPFLAGS = \
 	'-DGIT_MAN_PATH="$(mandir_SQ)"' \
 	'-DGIT_INFO_PATH="$(infodir_SQ)"'
 
+version.sp version.s version.o: EXTRA_CPPFLAGS = \
+	'-DGIT_VERSION="$(GIT_VERSION)"'
+
 $(BUILT_INS): git$X
 	$(QUIET_BUILT_IN)$(RM) $@ && \
 	ln git$X $@ 2>/dev/null || \
@@ -2089,7 +2093,7 @@ configure: configure.ac
 	$(RM) $<+
 
 # These can record GIT_VERSION
-git.o git.spec http.o \
+version.o git.spec http.o \
 	$(patsubst %.sh,%,$(SCRIPT_SH)) \
 	$(patsubst %.perl,%,$(SCRIPT_PERL)) \
 	: GIT-VERSION-FILE
diff --git a/builtin.h b/builtin.h
index 338f540e3..dea1643fa 100644
--- a/builtin.h
+++ b/builtin.h
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@
 
 #define DEFAULT_MERGE_LOG_LEN 20
 
-extern const char git_version_string[];
 extern const char git_usage_string[];
 extern const char git_more_info_string[];
 
diff --git a/builtin/log.c b/builtin/log.c
index 906dca475..4f1b42a68 100644
--- a/builtin/log.c
+++ b/builtin/log.c
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 #include "parse-options.h"
 #include "branch.h"
 #include "streaming.h"
+#include "version.h"
 
 /* Set a default date-time format for git log ("log.date" config variable) */
 static const char *default_date_mode = NULL;
diff --git a/git.c b/git.c
index d232de92e..4da3db522 100644
--- a/git.c
+++ b/git.c
@@ -256,8 +256,6 @@ static int handle_alias(int *argcp, const char ***argv)
 	return ret;
 }
 
-const char git_version_string[] = GIT_VERSION;
-
 #define RUN_SETUP		(1<<0)
 #define RUN_SETUP_GENTLY	(1<<1)
 #define USE_PAGER		(1<<2)
diff --git a/help.c b/help.c
index 6012c07b7..662349dd5 100644
--- a/help.c
+++ b/help.c
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 #include "common-cmds.h"
 #include "string-list.h"
 #include "column.h"
+#include "version.h"
 
 void add_cmdname(struct cmdnames *cmds, const char *name, int len)
 {
diff --git a/version.c b/version.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ca6865386
--- /dev/null
+++ b/version.c
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+#include "git-compat-util.h"
+#include "version.h"
+
+const char git_version_string[] = GIT_VERSION;
diff --git a/version.h b/version.h
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8d6c41339
--- /dev/null
+++ b/version.h
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+#ifndef VERSION_H
+#define VERSION_H
+
+extern const char git_version_string[];
+
+#endif /* VERSION_H */