diff --git a/config.mk b/config.mk
index c3822a25c255100f6730549820fe32dadce8dba7..51b47838cf53dd85fd928945efa36e2b92d9b975 100644
--- a/config.mk
+++ b/config.mk
@@ -128,6 +128,7 @@ endif
 # cc-version
 # Usage gcc-ver := $(call cc-version)
 cc-version = $(shell $(SHELL) $(SRCTREE)/tools/gcc-version.sh $(CC))
+binutils-version = $(shell $(SHELL) $(SRCTREE)/tools/binutils-version.sh $(AS))
 
 #
 # Include the make variables (CC, etc...)
diff --git a/tools/binutils-version.sh b/tools/binutils-version.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..d4d9eb43619b331277104564c19c082eff319597
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/binutils-version.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+#
+# binutils-version [-p] gas-command
+#
+# Prints the binutils version of `gas-command' in a canonical 4-digit form
+# such as `0222' for binutils 2.22
+#
+
+gas="$*"
+
+if [ ${#gas} -eq 0 ]; then
+	echo "Error: No assembler specified."
+	printf "Usage:\n\t$0 <gas-command>\n"
+	exit 1
+fi
+
+MAJOR=$($gas --version | head -1 | awk '{print $NF}' | cut -d . -f 1)
+MINOR=$($gas --version | head -1 | awk '{print $NF}' | cut -d . -f 2)
+
+printf "%02d%02d\\n" $MAJOR $MINOR