diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 56bb0fa9..4d2fd237 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -33,8 +33,6 @@ src/config.h.in
 src/conky
 src/stamp-h1
 src/.deps/
-src/build.h
-src/config.h
 src/defconfig.h
 src/*.o
 src/*.gcda
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index f385c95b..755aa5af 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -21,8 +21,12 @@ execute_process(COMMAND
 	--since=${VERSION_MAJOR}-${VERSION_MINOR}-01 --pretty=oneline COMMAND
 	${APP_WC} -l COMMAND ${APP_GAWK} "{print $1}" RESULT_VARIABLE RETVAL
 	OUTPUT_VARIABLE COMMIT_COUNT OUTPUT_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE)
+#BUILD_DATE=$(LANG=en_US LC_ALL=en_US LOCALE=en_US date)
+#BUILD_ARCH="$(uname -sr) ($(uname -m))"
 execute_process(COMMAND ${APP_DATE} RESULT_VARIABLE RETVAL OUTPUT_VARIABLE
 	BUILD_DATE OUTPUT_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE)
+execute_process(COMMAND ${APP_UNAME} -srm RESULT_VARIABLE RETVAL OUTPUT_VARIABLE
+	BUILD_ARCH OUTPUT_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE)
 
 set(VERSION "${VERSION_MAJOR}.${VERSION_MINOR}.${VERSION_PATCH}-r${COMMIT_COUNT}")
 set(COPYRIGHT "Copyright Brenden Matthews, et al, 2005-2009")
@@ -45,8 +49,9 @@ include(ConkyBuildOptions)
 # Do platform checks
 include(ConkyPlatformChecks)
 
-# setup our configuration header
+# setup our configuration headers
 configure_file(${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/config.h.in ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/config.h)
+configure_file(${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/build.h.in ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/build.h)
 
 add_subdirectory(src)
 add_subdirectory(lua)
diff --git a/build.h.in b/build.h.in
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a9f84112
--- /dev/null
+++ b/build.h.in
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+#ifndef __BUILD_H
+#define __BUILD_H
+
+/* Conky build info */
+
+#define BUILD_DATE "@BUILD_DATE@"
+#define BUILD_ARCH "@BUILD_ARCH@"
+
+#endif /* __BUILD_H */
diff --git a/src/CMakeLists.txt b/src/CMakeLists.txt
index 00add8f3..f392d478 100644
--- a/src/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -2,9 +2,13 @@
 
 include_directories(${conky_includes})
 
+# ensure build.h and config.h aren't in the way
 if(EXISTS ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/config.h)
 	message(FATAL_ERROR "You must remove the autotools generated file '${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/config.h' in order to build with CMake.")
 endif(EXISTS ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/config.h)
+if(EXISTS ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/build.h)
+	message(FATAL_ERROR "You must remove the autotools generated file '${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/build.h' in order to build with CMake.")
+endif(EXISTS ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/build.h)
 
 set(conky_sources colours.c combine.c common.c conky.c core.c diskio.c
 	entropy.c exec.c fs.c mail.c mixer.c net_stat.c template.c timed_thread.c