diff --git a/configure/RULES_BUILD b/configure/RULES_BUILD
index 711da3434..0af9b6e55 100644
--- a/configure/RULES_BUILD
+++ b/configure/RULES_BUILD
@@ -359,6 +359,19 @@ tapfiles: $(TESTSCRIPTS) $(TAPFILES)
 	@$(RM) $@
 	$(PERL) $(TOOLS)/makeTestfile.pl $@ $<
 
+#---------------------------------------------------------------
+# Generate header with version number from VCS
+
+ifneq ($(VERHEADER),)
+GENVERSIONHEADER ?= $(PERL) $(TOOLS)/genVersionHeader.pl
+MODVERSION ?= undefined
+MODMACRO ?= MODULEVERSION
+
+$(VERHEADER)::
+	$(GENVERSIONHEADER) -t $(TOP) -V $(MODVERSION) -N $(MODMACRO) $@
+
+endif
+
 #---------------------------------------------------------------
 # Install rules for BIN_INSTALLS and LIB_INSTALLS
 
diff --git a/src/tools/Makefile b/src/tools/Makefile
index 496b0e4d1..ff5c55e39 100644
--- a/src/tools/Makefile
+++ b/src/tools/Makefile
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ PERL_SCRIPTS += dbdToMenuH.pl
 PERL_SCRIPTS += dbdToRecordtypeH.pl
 PERL_SCRIPTS += dbdExpand.pl
 PERL_SCRIPTS += dbdToHtml.pl
+PERL_SCRIPTS += genVersionHeader.pl
 PERL_SCRIPTS += registerRecordDeviceDriver.pl
 
 include $(TOP)/configure/RULES
diff --git a/src/tools/genVersionHeader.pl b/src/tools/genVersionHeader.pl
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0fd6db2df
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/tools/genVersionHeader.pl
@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env perl
+#
+# Generate a C header file which
+# defines a macro with a string
+# describing the VCS revision
+#
+
+use EPICS::Getopts;
+
+use strict;
+
+our($opt_v,$opt_t,$opt_N,$opt_V);
+
+$opt_N = "MODVERSION";
+$opt_V = "undefined";
+$opt_t = ".";
+my $foundvcs = 0;
+my $result;
+
+getopts("vt:N:V:") or 
+    die "Usage: genVersionHeader.pl [-t top] [-N NAME] [-V VERSION] output.h";
+
+my ($outfile) = @ARGV;
+
+if(-d "$opt_t/.hg") { # Mercurial
+    # v1-4-abcdef-dirty
+    # is 4 commits after tag 'v1' with short hash abcdef
+    # with uncommited modifications
+    $result = `cd "$opt_t" && hg tip --template '{latesttag}-{latesttagdistance}-{node|short}\n'`;
+    chomp($result);
+    if(length($result)>1) {
+        $opt_V = $result;
+        $foundvcs = 1;
+    }
+    # see if working copy has modifications, additions, removals, or missing files
+    my $hasmod = `cd "$opt_t" && hg status -m -a -r -d`;
+    chomp($hasmod);
+    if(length($hasmod)>0) {
+        $opt_V = "$opt_V-dirty";
+    }
+}
+if(!$foundvcs && -d "$opt_t/.git") {
+    # same format as Mercurial
+    $result = `git --git-dir="$opt_t/.git" describe --tags --dirty`;
+    chomp($result);
+    if(length($result)>1) {
+        $opt_V = $result;
+        $foundvcs = 1;
+    }
+}
+
+my $output = "#ifndef $opt_N\n# define $opt_N \"$opt_V\"\n#endif\n";
+print "== would\n$output" if $opt_v;
+
+my $DST;
+if(open($DST, '+<', $outfile)) {
+    my $actual = join("", <$DST>);
+    print "== have\n$actual" if $opt_v;
+
+    if($actual eq $output) {
+        print "keep existing $outfile\n";
+        exit(0)
+    }
+    print "updating $outfile\n";
+} else {
+    print "create $outfile\n";
+    open($DST, '>', $outfile) or die "Unable to open or create $outfile";
+}
+
+seek($DST,0,0);
+truncate($DST,0);
+print $DST $output;
+
+close($DST);