diff --git a/.bazelrc b/.bazelrc
index 0ceb744e25592..5743edc876146 100644
--- a/.bazelrc
+++ b/.bazelrc
@@ -4,3 +4,6 @@ test --test_output=errors
 
 # Retry tests up to 3 times if they fail.
 test --flaky_test_attempts=3
+
+# Include git version info
+build --workspace_status_command hack/print-workspace-status.sh
diff --git a/BUILD.bazel b/BUILD.bazel
index 339affffa457c..6ab284d64cd8b 100644
--- a/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/BUILD.bazel
@@ -52,3 +52,10 @@ filegroup(
     ],
     tags = ["automanaged"],
 )
+
+genrule(
+    name = "save_git_version",
+    outs = ["version"],
+    cmd = "grep ^STABLE_BUILD_SCM_REVISION bazel-out/stable-status.txt | cut -d' ' -f2 >$@",
+    stamp = 1,
+)
diff --git a/build/release-tars/BUILD b/build/release-tars/BUILD
index 2acc37865c254..67cc91af10a72 100644
--- a/build/release-tars/BUILD
+++ b/build/release-tars/BUILD
@@ -211,7 +211,7 @@ pkg_tar(
     name = "kubernetes",
     extension = "tar.gz",
     files = [
-        # TODO: the version file
+        "//:version",
         "//:README.md",
         "//:Vagrantfile",
         "//cluster:all-srcs",
diff --git a/hack/print-workspace-status.sh b/hack/print-workspace-status.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000000..4a5951ce1ea1a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hack/print-workspace-status.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Copyright 2017 The Kubernetes Authors.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+# This command is used by bazel as the workspace_status_command
+# to implement build stamping with git information.
+
+set -o errexit
+set -o nounset
+set -o pipefail
+
+export KUBE_ROOT=$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE}")/..
+
+source "${KUBE_ROOT}/hack/lib/version.sh"
+kube::version::get_version_vars
+
+# Prefix with STABLE_ so that these values are saved to stable-status.txt
+# instead of volatile-status.txt.
+# Stamped rules will be retriggered by changes to stable-status.txt, but not by
+# changes to volatile-status.txt.
+cat <<EOF
+STABLE_BUILD_GIT_COMMIT ${KUBE_GIT_COMMIT-}
+STABLE_BUILD_SCM_STATUS ${KUBE_GIT_TREE_STATE-}
+STABLE_BUILD_SCM_REVISION ${KUBE_GIT_VERSION-}
+STABLE_BUILD_MAJOR_VERSION ${KUBE_GIT_MAJOR-}
+STABLE_BUILD_MINOR_VERSION ${KUBE_GIT_MINOR-}
+STABLE_gitCommit ${KUBE_GIT_COMMIT-}
+STABLE_gitTreeState ${KUBE_GIT_TREE_STATE-}
+STABLE_gitVersion ${KUBE_GIT_VERSION-}
+STABLE_gitMajor ${KUBE_GIT_MAJOR-}
+STABLE_gitMinor ${KUBE_GIT_MINOR-}
+EOF