diff --git a/kernel/include/config.h b/kernel/include/config.h
index 72ce5d96..f59a47e0 100644
--- a/kernel/include/config.h
+++ b/kernel/include/config.h
@@ -2,4 +2,6 @@
 
 int __moon_version_major();
 int __moon_version_minor();
-const char* __moon_version_suffix();
\ No newline at end of file
+const char* __moon_version_suffix();
+
+const char* moon_version();
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/kernel/src/config.cpp b/kernel/src/config.cpp
index 4b04b372..a7213e80 100644
--- a/kernel/src/config.cpp
+++ b/kernel/src/config.cpp
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 #include "config.h"
+#include "std/stdio.h"
 
 #define STRINGIZE(x) #x
 #define STRINGIZE_VALUE_OF(x) STRINGIZE(x)
@@ -28,4 +29,12 @@ const char* __moon_version_suffix()
 #else
     return STRINGIZE_VALUE_OF(_MOON_SUFFIX);
 #endif
+}
+
+const char* moon_version()
+{
+    static char version[64];
+    snprintf(version, sizeof(version), "%d.%d%s", __moon_version_major(), __moon_version_minor(),
+             __moon_version_suffix()); // FIXME: this string is constant each build and should only be calculated once
+    return version;
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/kernel/src/main.cpp b/kernel/src/main.cpp
index 297fce11..92b7af10 100644
--- a/kernel/src/main.cpp
+++ b/kernel/src/main.cpp
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ extern "C" void _start()
     Init::disable_smp(); // Put all other cores except the bootstrap one in an infinite loop
     Init::early_init();
 
-    kinfoln("Starting Moon %d.%d%s", __moon_version_major(), __moon_version_minor(), __moon_version_suffix());
+    kinfoln("Starting Moon %s", moon_version());
 
     CPU::log_cpu_information();