diff --git a/Makefile.inc b/Makefile.inc
index eb8b6014f7..89a05534d6 100644
--- a/Makefile.inc
+++ b/Makefile.inc
@@ -243,7 +243,7 @@ CBFS_PAYLOAD_COMPRESS_FLAG:=LZMA
 endif
 
 ifneq ($(CONFIG_LOCALVERSION),"")
-COREBOOT_EXTRA_VERSION := -$(call strip_quotes,$(CONFIG_LOCALVERSION))
+export COREBOOT_EXTRA_VERSION := -$(call strip_quotes,$(CONFIG_LOCALVERSION))
 endif
 
 CPPFLAGS_common := -Isrc -Isrc/include -I$(obj)
@@ -274,31 +274,7 @@ additional-dirs := $(objutil)/cbfstool $(objutil)/romcc $(objutil)/ifdtool \
 $(obj)/build.h: .xcompile
 	@printf "    GEN        build.h\n"
 	rm -f $(obj)/build.h
-	printf "/* build system definitions (autogenerated) */\n" > $(obj)/build.ht
-	printf "#ifndef __BUILD_H\n" >> $(obj)/build.ht
-	printf "#define __BUILD_H\n\n" >> $(obj)/build.ht
-	printf "#define COREBOOT_VERSION \"$(KERNELVERSION)\"\n" >> $(obj)/build.ht
-	if git update-index -q --refresh >/dev/null; ! git diff-index --quiet HEAD; then \
-	   printf "/* `LANG= TZ=UTC git log --date=local --pretty=format:%cd -1` UTC */\n" >> $(obj)/build.ht; \
-	   printf "#define COREBOOT_VERSION_TIMESTAMP `LANG= git log --pretty=format:%ct -1`\n" >> $(obj)/build.ht; \
-	else \
-	   printf "/* `LANG= TZ=UTC date` */\n" >> $(obj)/build.ht; \
-	   printf "#define COREBOOT_VERSION_TIMESTAMP `LANG= date +%s`\n" >> $(obj)/build.ht; \
-        fi
-	printf "#define COREBOOT_ORIGIN_GIT_REVISION \"`LANG= git log remotes/origin/master -1 --format=format:%h`\"\n" >> $(obj)/build.ht
-	printf "#define COREBOOT_EXTRA_VERSION \"$(COREBOOT_EXTRA_VERSION)\"\n" >> $(obj)/build.ht
-	printf "#define COREBOOT_BUILD \"`LANG= date`\"\n" >> $(obj)/build.ht
-	printf "#define COREBOOT_BUILD_YEAR_BCD 0x`LANG= date +"%y"`\n" >> $(obj)/build.ht
-	printf "#define COREBOOT_BUILD_MONTH_BCD 0x`LANG= date +"%m"`\n" >> $(obj)/build.ht
-	printf "#define COREBOOT_BUILD_DAY_BCD 0x`LANG= date +"%d"`\n" >> $(obj)/build.ht
-	printf "#define COREBOOT_BUILD_WEEKDAY_BCD 0x`LANG= date +"%w"`\n" >> $(obj)/build.ht
-	printf "#define COREBOOT_DMI_DATE \"`LANG= date +"%m/%d/%Y"`\"\n" >> $(obj)/build.ht
-	printf "\n" >> $(obj)/build.ht
-	printf "#define COREBOOT_COMPILE_TIME \"`LANG= date +%T`\"\n" >> $(obj)/build.ht
-	printf "#define COREBOOT_COMPILE_BY \"$(subst \,@,$(shell PATH=$$PATH:/usr/ucb whoami))\"\n" >> $(obj)/build.ht
-	printf "#define COREBOOT_COMPILE_HOST \"$(shell hostname -s 2>/dev/null || hostname 2>/dev/null)\"\n" >> $(obj)/build.ht
-	printf "#define COREBOOT_COMPILE_DOMAIN \"$(shell test `uname -s` = "Linux" && dnsdomainname || domainname 2>/dev/null)\"\n" >> $(obj)/build.ht
-	printf "#endif\n" >> $(obj)/build.ht
+	util/genbuild_h/genbuild_h.sh > $(obj)/build.ht
 	mv $(obj)/build.ht $(obj)/build.h
 
 $(obj)/ldoptions: $(obj)/config.h
diff --git a/util/genbuild_h/genbuild_h.sh b/util/genbuild_h/genbuild_h.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..e79e41b3e1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/util/genbuild_h/genbuild_h.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+# This file is part of the coreboot project.
+#
+# Copyright (C) 2014 Sage Electronic Engineering, LLC.
+#
+# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation; version 2 of the License.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
+# Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA
+#
+
+#get the domain name without hanging the build for an extended period if
+#the build system doesn't return a domain name as can happen with the
+#dnsdomainname or domainname commands by themselves.
+get_domainname() {
+	MAX_DELAY=1				#maximum time to wait in seconds
+	TIMEOUT_HOSTNAME_TEXT=unknown.domain 	#text to return if domain name is not found
+	TEMPFILE_NAME=coreboot_hostname.txt	#temp file to put the domain name into
+
+	# Find the domain name
+	if [ "$(uname -s)" = "Linux" ]
+	then
+	dnsdomainname 2>/dev/null > "$TEMPFILE_NAME" &
+	else
+	domainname 2>/dev/null >"$TEMPFILE_NAME" &
+	fi
+
+	# Get ready to kill the process if it's taking too long
+	PID=$!
+	sleep "$MAX_DELAY" && kill "$PID" 2>/dev/null &
+	wait "$PID" 2>/dev/null
+
+	# See what was found, print our timeout text if the process was killed
+	# or the domain name if we found one.
+	HN=$(cat "$TEMPFILE_NAME")
+	if [ "$HN" = "" ]
+	then
+	printf "%s" "$TIMEOUT_HOSTNAME_TEXT"
+	else
+	printf "%s" "$HN"
+	fi
+
+	# Clean up and exit.
+	rm -f "$TEMPFILE_NAME"
+}
+
+#Print out the information that goes into build.h
+printf "/* build system definitions (autogenerated) */\n"
+printf "#ifndef __BUILD_H\n"
+printf "#define __BUILD_H\n\n"
+printf "#define COREBOOT_VERSION %s\n" "\"$KERNELVERSION\""
+
+#See if the build is running in a git repo and the git command is available
+if [ -d "${top}/.git" ] && [ -f "$(command -v git)" ]; then
+	printf "/* %s UTC */\n" "$(LANG= TZ=UTC git log --date=local --pretty=format:%cd -1)"
+	printf "#define COREBOOT_VERSION_TIMESTAMP %s\n" "$(LANG= git log --pretty=format:%ct -1)"
+	printf "#define COREBOOT_ORIGIN_GIT_REVISION \"%s\"\n" "$(LANG= git log remotes/origin/master -1 --format=format:%h)"
+else
+	printf "/* `LANG= TZ=UTC date` */\n"
+	printf "#define COREBOOT_VERSION_TIMESTAMP %s\n" "$(LANG= date +%s)"
+	printf "#define COREBOOT_ORIGIN_GIT_REVISION \"Unknown\"\n"
+fi
+
+printf "#define COREBOOT_EXTRA_VERSION \"%s\"\n" "$COREBOOT_EXTRA_VERSION"
+printf "#define COREBOOT_BUILD \"%s\"\n" "$(date)"
+printf "#define COREBOOT_BUILD_YEAR_BCD 0x%s\n" "$(date +%y)"
+printf "#define COREBOOT_BUILD_MONTH_BCD 0x%s\n" "$(date +%m)"
+printf "#define COREBOOT_BUILD_DAY_BCD 0x%s\n" "$(date +%d)"
+printf "#define COREBOOT_BUILD_WEEKDAY_BCD 0x%s\n" "$(date +%w)"
+printf "#define COREBOOT_DMI_DATE \"%s\"\n" "$(date +%m/%d/%Y)"
+printf "\n"
+printf "#define COREBOOT_COMPILE_TIME \"%s\"\n" "$(date +%T)"
+printf "#define COREBOOT_COMPILE_BY \"%s\"\n" "$(whoami)"
+printf "#define COREBOOT_COMPILE_HOST \"%s\"\n" "$(hostname -s 2>/dev/null)"
+printf "#define COREBOOT_COMPILE_DOMAIN \""
+get_domainname
+printf "\"\n"
+printf "#endif\n"