diff --git a/meta/classes-recipe/kernel-arch.bbclass b/meta/classes-recipe/kernel-arch.bbclass
index df4884b6c4..b0db99faa3 100644
--- a/meta/classes-recipe/kernel-arch.bbclass
+++ b/meta/classes-recipe/kernel-arch.bbclass
@@ -79,11 +79,3 @@ KERNEL_AR = "${CCACHE}${HOST_PREFIX}ar ${HOST_AR_KERNEL_ARCH}"
 KERNEL_OBJCOPY = "${CCACHE}${HOST_PREFIX}objcopy ${HOST_OBJCOPY_KERNEL_ARCH}"
 KERNEL_STRIP = "${CCACHE}${HOST_PREFIX}strip ${HOST_STRIP_KERNEL_ARCH}"
 TOOLCHAIN ?= "gcc"
-
-# 6.3+ requires the variable LOCALVERSION to be set to not get a "+" in
-# the local version. Having it empty means nothing will be added, and any
-# value will be appended to the local kernel version. This replaces the
-# use of .scmversion file for setting a localversion without using
-# the CONFIG_LOCALVERSION option.
-KERNEL_LOCALVERSION ??= ""
-export LOCALVERSION ?= "${KERNEL_LOCALVERSION}"
diff --git a/meta/classes-recipe/kernel.bbclass b/meta/classes-recipe/kernel.bbclass
index 2e9563186e..247ef4a48a 100644
--- a/meta/classes-recipe/kernel.bbclass
+++ b/meta/classes-recipe/kernel.bbclass
@@ -551,6 +551,7 @@ do_shared_workdir () {
 	#
 
 	echo "${KERNEL_VERSION}" > $kerneldir/${KERNEL_PACKAGE_NAME}-abiversion
+	echo "${KERNEL_LOCALVERSION}" > $kerneldir/${KERNEL_PACKAGE_NAME}-localversion
 
 	# Copy files required for module builds
 	cp System.map $kerneldir/System.map-${KERNEL_VERSION}
@@ -640,6 +641,19 @@ python check_oldest_kernel() {
 check_oldest_kernel[vardepsexclude] += "OLDEST_KERNEL KERNEL_VERSION"
 do_configure[prefuncs] += "check_oldest_kernel"
 
+KERNEL_LOCALVERSION ??= ""
+
+# 6.3+ requires the variable LOCALVERSION to be set to not get a "+" in
+# the local version. Having it empty means nothing will be added, and any
+# value will be appended to the local kernel version. This replaces the
+# use of .scmversion file for setting a localversion without using
+# the CONFIG_LOCALVERSION option.
+#
+# Note: This class saves the value of localversion to a file
+# so other recipes like make-mod-scripts can restore it via the
+# helper function get_kernellocalversion_file
+export LOCALVERSION="${KERNEL_LOCALVERSION}"
+
 kernel_do_configure() {
 	# fixes extra + in /lib/modules/2.6.37+
 	# $ scripts/setlocalversion . => +
diff --git a/meta/classes-recipe/kernelsrc.bbclass b/meta/classes-recipe/kernelsrc.bbclass
index a32882a5d2..ecb02dc9ed 100644
--- a/meta/classes-recipe/kernelsrc.bbclass
+++ b/meta/classes-recipe/kernelsrc.bbclass
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ do_patch[depends] += "virtual/kernel:do_shared_workdir"
 do_patch[noexec] = "1"
 do_package[depends] += "virtual/kernel:do_populate_sysroot"
 KERNEL_VERSION = "${@get_kernelversion_file("${STAGING_KERNEL_BUILDDIR}")}"
+LOCAL_VERSION = "${@get_kernellocalversion_file("${STAGING_KERNEL_BUILDDIR}")}"
 
 inherit linux-kernel-base
 
diff --git a/meta/classes-recipe/linux-kernel-base.bbclass b/meta/classes-recipe/linux-kernel-base.bbclass
index 65cc48f304..e2187a73f0 100644
--- a/meta/classes-recipe/linux-kernel-base.bbclass
+++ b/meta/classes-recipe/linux-kernel-base.bbclass
@@ -39,6 +39,17 @@ def get_kernelversion_file(p):
     except IOError:
         return None
 
+def get_kernellocalversion_file(p):
+    fn = p + '/kernel-localversion'
+
+    try:
+        with open(fn, 'r') as f:
+            return f.readlines()[0].strip()
+    except IOError:
+        return ""
+
+    return ""
+
 def linux_module_packages(s, d):
     suffix = ""
     return " ".join(map(lambda s: "kernel-module-%s%s" % (s.lower().replace('_', '-').replace('@', '+'), suffix), s.split()))
diff --git a/meta/classes-recipe/module-base.bbclass b/meta/classes-recipe/module-base.bbclass
index 094b563b1a..2a225881ba 100644
--- a/meta/classes-recipe/module-base.bbclass
+++ b/meta/classes-recipe/module-base.bbclass
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ export CROSS_COMPILE = "${TARGET_PREFIX}"
 export KBUILD_OUTPUT = "${STAGING_KERNEL_BUILDDIR}"
 
 export KERNEL_VERSION = "${@oe.utils.read_file('${STAGING_KERNEL_BUILDDIR}/kernel-abiversion')}"
+export LOCALVERSION = "${@oe.utils.read_file('${STAGING_KERNEL_BUILDDIR}/kernel-localversion')}"
 KERNEL_OBJECT_SUFFIX = ".ko"
 
 # kernel modules are generally machine specific
diff --git a/meta/recipes-kernel/make-mod-scripts/make-mod-scripts_1.0.bb b/meta/recipes-kernel/make-mod-scripts/make-mod-scripts_1.0.bb
index e3b258753f..a91680d497 100644
--- a/meta/recipes-kernel/make-mod-scripts/make-mod-scripts_1.0.bb
+++ b/meta/recipes-kernel/make-mod-scripts/make-mod-scripts_1.0.bb
@@ -21,6 +21,9 @@ DEPENDS += "gmp-native"
 EXTRA_OEMAKE = " HOSTCC="${BUILD_CC} ${BUILD_CFLAGS} ${BUILD_LDFLAGS}" HOSTCPP="${BUILD_CPP}""
 EXTRA_OEMAKE += " HOSTCXX="${BUILD_CXX} ${BUILD_CXXFLAGS} ${BUILD_LDFLAGS}" CROSS_COMPILE=${TARGET_PREFIX}"
 
+KERNEL_LOCALVERSION = "${@get_kernellocalversion_file("${STAGING_KERNEL_BUILDDIR}")}"
+export LOCALVERSION="${KERNEL_LOCALVERSION}"
+
 # Build some host tools under work-shared.  CC, LD, and AR are probably
 # not used, but this is the historical way of invoking "make scripts".
 #