diff --git a/man/kernel-install.xml b/man/kernel-install.xml
index 974d6984de3..5ae86aca180 100644
--- a/man/kernel-install.xml
+++ b/man/kernel-install.xml
@@ -166,6 +166,7 @@
       </varlistentry>
 
       <xi:include href="standard-options.xml" xpointer="help" />
+      <xi:include href="standard-options.xml" xpointer="version" />
     </variablelist>
   </refsect1>
 
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index ce54b1045db..4a154850db1 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -3655,6 +3655,15 @@ executable(
         install : true,
         install_dir : rootlibexecdir)
 
+public_programs += custom_target(
+        'kernel-install',
+        input : kernel_install_in,
+        output : 'kernel-install',
+        command : [jinja2_cmdline, '@INPUT@', '@OUTPUT@'],
+        install : want_kernel_install,
+        install_mode : 'rwxr-xr-x',
+        install_dir : bindir)
+
 ############################################################
 
 runtest_env = custom_target(
diff --git a/src/kernel-install/kernel-install b/src/kernel-install/kernel-install.in
similarity index 95%
rename from src/kernel-install/kernel-install
rename to src/kernel-install/kernel-install.in
index a09b9983621..f6d262f5226 100755
--- a/src/kernel-install/kernel-install
+++ b/src/kernel-install/kernel-install.in
@@ -23,11 +23,12 @@ skip_remaining=77
 usage()
 {
     echo "Usage:"
-    echo "  $0 [OPTIONS...] add KERNEL-VERSION KERNEL-IMAGE [INITRD-FILE ...]"
-    echo "  $0 [OPTIONS...] remove KERNEL-VERSION"
-    echo "  $0 [OPTIONS...] inspect"
+    echo "  kernel-install [OPTIONS...] add KERNEL-VERSION KERNEL-IMAGE [INITRD-FILE...]"
+    echo "  kernel-install [OPTIONS...] remove KERNEL-VERSION"
+    echo "  kernel-install [OPTIONS...] inspect"
     echo "Options:"
-    echo "  -h, --help     Print this help"
+    echo "  -h, --help     Print this help and exit"
+    echo "      --version  Print version string and exit"
     echo "  -v, --verbose  Increase verbosity"
 }
 
@@ -59,6 +60,13 @@ for i; do
     fi
 done
 
+for i; do
+    if [ "$i" = "--version" ]; then
+        echo "kernel-install {{PROJECT_VERSION}} ({{GIT_VERSION}})"
+        exit 0
+    fi
+done
+
 export KERNEL_INSTALL_VERBOSE=0
 if [ "$1" = "--verbose" ] || [ "$1" = "-v" ]; then
     shift
diff --git a/src/kernel-install/meson.build b/src/kernel-install/meson.build
index abc3520b625..06c1c3aafb0 100644
--- a/src/kernel-install/meson.build
+++ b/src/kernel-install/meson.build
@@ -1,10 +1,8 @@
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1-or-later
 
-if want_kernel_install
-        install_data('kernel-install',
-                     install_mode : 'rwxr-xr-x',
-                     install_dir : bindir)
+kernel_install_in = files('kernel-install.in')
 
+if want_kernel_install
         install_data('50-depmod.install',
                      '90-loaderentry.install',
                      install_mode : 'rwxr-xr-x',