Index: sys/conf/kern.opts.mk
===================================================================
--- sys/conf/kern.opts.mk
+++ sys/conf/kern.opts.mk
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@
 __DEFAULT_NO_OPTIONS = \
     EISA \
     FAST_DEPEND \
+    KERNEL_METADATA \
     NAND \
     OFED
 
Index: sys/conf/kern.post.mk
===================================================================
--- sys/conf/kern.post.mk
+++ sys/conf/kern.post.mk
@@ -317,8 +317,11 @@
 config.ln env.ln hints.ln vers.ln vnode_if.ln:
 	${NORMAL_LINT}
 
+.if ${MK_KERNEL_METADATA} != "no"
+METADATA_FLAG=-m
+.endif
 vers.c: $S/conf/newvers.sh $S/sys/param.h ${SYSTEM_DEP}
-	MAKE=${MAKE} sh $S/conf/newvers.sh ${KERN_IDENT}
+	MAKE=${MAKE} sh $S/conf/newvers.sh ${METADATA_FLAG} ${KERN_IDENT}
 
 vnode_if.c: $S/tools/vnode_if.awk $S/kern/vnode_if.src
 	${AWK} -f $S/tools/vnode_if.awk $S/kern/vnode_if.src -c
Index: sys/conf/newvers.sh
===================================================================
--- sys/conf/newvers.sh
+++ sys/conf/newvers.sh
@@ -51,6 +51,17 @@
 		${SYSDIR}/sys/param.h)
 fi
 
+INCLUDE_METADATA=
+
+while getopts m opt; do
+case "$opt" in
+m)
+	INCLUDE_METADATA=1
+	;;
+esac
+done
+shift $((OPTIND-1))
+
 b=share/examples/etc/bsd-style-copyright
 if [ -r "${SYSDIR}/../COPYRIGHT" ]; then
 	year=$(sed -Ee '/^Copyright .* The FreeBSD Project/!d;s/^.*1992-([0-9]*) .*$/\1/g' ${SYSDIR}/../COPYRIGHT)
@@ -220,10 +231,16 @@
 	fi
 fi
 
+if [ $INCLUDE_METADATA ]; then
+	VERSTR="${VERSION} #${v}${svn}${git}${hg}${p4version}: ${t}\\n    ${u}@${h}:${d}\\n"
+else
+	VERSTR="${VERSION} #${v}${svn}${git}${hg}${p4version}\\n"
+fi
+
 cat << EOF > vers.c
 $COPYRIGHT
 #define SCCSSTR "@(#)${VERSION} #${v}${svn}${git}${hg}${p4version}: ${t}"
-#define VERSTR "${VERSION} #${v}${svn}${git}${hg}${p4version}: ${t}\\n    ${u}@${h}:${d}\\n"
+#define VERSTR "${VERSTR}"
 #define RELSTR "${RELEASE}"
 
 char sccs[sizeof(SCCSSTR) > 128 ? sizeof(SCCSSTR) : 128] = SCCSSTR;
Index: tools/build/options/WITH_KERNEL_METADATA
===================================================================
--- /dev/null
+++ tools/build/options/WITH_KERNEL_METADATA
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+.\" $FreeBSD$
+Set to include build metadata (build time, user, host and path) in the
+kern.version sysctl and uname.