diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 0f1db8d90741..72c0e321f2da 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -378,7 +378,7 @@ KBUILD_LDFLAGS_MODULE := -T $(srctree)/scripts/module-common.lds
 
 # Read KERNELRELEASE from include/config/kernel.release (if it exists)
 KERNELRELEASE = $(shell cat include/config/kernel.release 2> /dev/null)
-KERNELVERSION = $(VERSION).$(PATCHLEVEL).$(SUBLEVEL)$(EXTRAVERSION)
+KERNELVERSION = $(VERSION)$(if $(PATCHLEVEL),.$(PATCHLEVEL)$(if $(SUBLEVEL),.$(SUBLEVEL)))$(EXTRAVERSION)
 
 export VERSION PATCHLEVEL SUBLEVEL KERNELRELEASE KERNELVERSION
 export ARCH SRCARCH CONFIG_SHELL HOSTCC HOSTCFLAGS CROSS_COMPILE AS LD CC
@@ -1005,7 +1005,7 @@ endef
 
 define filechk_version.h
 	(echo \#define LINUX_VERSION_CODE $(shell                             \
-	expr $(VERSION) \* 65536 + $(PATCHLEVEL) \* 256 + $(SUBLEVEL));     \
+	expr $(VERSION) \* 65536 + 0$(PATCHLEVEL) \* 256 + 0$(SUBLEVEL));    \
 	echo '#define KERNEL_VERSION(a,b,c) (((a) << 16) + ((b) << 8) + (c))';)
 endef
 
@@ -1110,11 +1110,6 @@ modules_install: _modinst_ _modinst_post
 
 PHONY += _modinst_
 _modinst_:
-	@if [ -z "`$(DEPMOD) -V 2>/dev/null | grep module-init-tools`" ]; then \
-		echo "Warning: you may need to install module-init-tools"; \
-		echo "See http://www.codemonkey.org.uk/docs/post-halloween-2.6.txt";\
-		sleep 1; \
-	fi
 	@rm -rf $(MODLIB)/kernel
 	@rm -f $(MODLIB)/source
 	@mkdir -p $(MODLIB)/kernel
@@ -1531,12 +1526,7 @@ quiet_cmd_rmfiles = $(if $(wildcard $(rm-files)),CLEAN   $(wildcard $(rm-files))
 
 # Run depmod only if we have System.map and depmod is executable
 quiet_cmd_depmod = DEPMOD  $(KERNELRELEASE)
-      cmd_depmod = \
-	if [ -r System.map -a -x $(DEPMOD) ]; then                              \
-		$(DEPMOD) -ae -F System.map                                     \
-		$(if $(strip $(INSTALL_MOD_PATH)), -b $(INSTALL_MOD_PATH) )     \
-		$(KERNELRELEASE);                                               \
-	fi
+      cmd_depmod = $(srctree)/scripts/depmod.sh $(DEPMOD) $(KERNELRELEASE)
 
 # Create temporary dir for module support files
 # clean it up only when building all modules
diff --git a/scripts/Makefile.asm-generic b/scripts/Makefile.asm-generic
index 490122c3e2aa..40caf3c26cd5 100644
--- a/scripts/Makefile.asm-generic
+++ b/scripts/Makefile.asm-generic
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ quiet_cmd_wrap = WRAP    $@
 cmd_wrap = echo "\#include <asm-generic/$*.h>" >$@
 
 all: $(patsubst %, $(obj)/%, $(generic-y))
+	@:
 
 $(obj)/%.h:
 	$(call cmd,wrap)
diff --git a/scripts/depmod.sh b/scripts/depmod.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000000..3b029cba2baf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/depmod.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+#
+# A depmod wrapper used by the toplevel Makefile
+
+if test $# -ne 2; then
+	echo "Usage: $0 /sbin/depmod <kernelrelease>" >&2
+	exit 1
+fi
+DEPMOD=$1
+KERNELRELEASE=$2
+
+if ! "$DEPMOD" -V 2>/dev/null | grep -q module-init-tools; then
+	echo "Warning: you may need to install module-init-tools" >&2
+	echo "See http://www.codemonkey.org.uk/docs/post-halloween-2.6.txt" >&2
+	sleep 1
+fi
+
+if ! test -r System.map -a -x "$DEPMOD"; then
+	exit 0
+fi
+# older versions of depmod require the version string to start with three
+# numbers, so we cheat with a symlink here
+depmod_hack_needed=true
+mkdir -p .tmp_depmod/lib/modules/$KERNELRELEASE
+if "$DEPMOD" -b .tmp_depmod $KERNELRELEASE 2>/dev/null; then
+	if test -e .tmp_depmod/lib/modules/$KERNELRELEASE/modules.dep -o \
+		-e .tmp_depmod/lib/modules/$KERNELRELEASE/modules.dep.bin; then
+		depmod_hack_needed=false
+	fi
+fi
+if $depmod_hack_needed; then
+	symlink="$INSTALL_MOD_PATH/lib/modules/99.98.$KERNELRELEASE"
+	ln -s "$KERNELRELEASE" "$symlink"
+	KERNELRELEASE=99.98.$KERNELRELEASE
+fi
+
+set -- -ae -F System.map
+if test -n "$INSTALL_MOD_PATH"; then
+	set -- "$@" -b "$INSTALL_MOD_PATH"
+fi
+"$DEPMOD" "$@" "$KERNELRELEASE"
+ret=$?
+
+if $depmod_hack_needed; then
+	rm -f "$symlink"
+fi
+
+exit $ret
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/PERF-VERSION-GEN b/tools/perf/util/PERF-VERSION-GEN
index 26d4d3fd6deb..9c5fb4d93824 100755
--- a/tools/perf/util/PERF-VERSION-GEN
+++ b/tools/perf/util/PERF-VERSION-GEN
@@ -23,12 +23,7 @@ if test -d ../../.git -o -f ../../.git &&
 then
 	VN=$(echo "$VN" | sed -e 's/-/./g');
 else
-	eval $(grep '^VERSION[[:space:]]*=' ../../Makefile|tr -d ' ')
-	eval $(grep '^PATCHLEVEL[[:space:]]*=' ../../Makefile|tr -d ' ')
-	eval $(grep '^SUBLEVEL[[:space:]]*=' ../../Makefile|tr -d ' ')
-	eval $(grep '^EXTRAVERSION[[:space:]]*=' ../../Makefile|tr -d ' ')
-
-	VN="${VERSION}.${PATCHLEVEL}.${SUBLEVEL}${EXTRAVERSION}"
+	VN=$(make -sC ../.. kernelversion)
 fi
 
 VN=$(expr "$VN" : v*'\(.*\)')