diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index efaf24e58e7..14acea9c6b9 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1898,8 +1898,11 @@ $(filter-out tools, $(u-boot-dirs)): tools
 # is "yes"), so compile examples after U-Boot is compiled.
 examples: $(filter-out examples, $(u-boot-dirs))
 
+# The setlocalversion script comes from linux and expects a
+# KERNELVERSION variable in the environment for figuring out which
+# annotated tags are relevant. Pass UBOOTVERSION.
 define filechk_uboot.release
-	echo "$(UBOOTVERSION)$$($(CONFIG_SHELL) $(srctree)/scripts/setlocalversion $(srctree))"
+	KERNELVERSION=$(UBOOTVERSION) $(CONFIG_SHELL) $(srctree)/scripts/setlocalversion $(srctree)
 endef
 
 # Store (new) UBOOTRELEASE string in include/config/uboot.release
diff --git a/scripts/setlocalversion b/scripts/setlocalversion
index 4a631437067..dbe048210d6 100755
--- a/scripts/setlocalversion
+++ b/scripts/setlocalversion
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
 #
 # This scripts adds local version information from the version
-# control systems git, mercurial (hg) and subversion (svn).
+# control system git.
 #
 # If something goes wrong, send a mail the kernel build mailinglist
 # (see MAINTAINERS) and CC Nico Schottelius
@@ -11,16 +11,17 @@
 #
 
 usage() {
-	echo "Usage: $0 [--save-scmversion] [srctree]" >&2
+	echo "Usage: $0 [--no-local] [srctree]" >&2
 	exit 1
 }
 
-scm_only=false
-srctree=.
-if test "$1" = "--save-scmversion"; then
-	scm_only=true
+no_local=false
+if test "$1" = "--no-local"; then
+	no_local=true
 	shift
 fi
+
+srctree=.
 if test $# -gt 0; then
 	srctree=$1
 	shift
@@ -31,96 +32,98 @@ fi
 
 scm_version()
 {
-	local short
-	short=false
+	local short=false
+	local no_dirty=false
+	local tag
+
+	while [ $# -gt 0 ];
+	do
+		case "$1" in
+		--short)
+			short=true;;
+		--no-dirty)
+			no_dirty=true;;
+		esac
+		shift
+	done
 
 	cd "$srctree"
-	if test -e .scmversion; then
-		cat .scmversion
+
+	if test -n "$(git rev-parse --show-cdup 2>/dev/null)"; then
 		return
 	fi
-	if test "$1" = "--short"; then
-		short=true
-	fi
 
-	# Check for git and a git repo.
-	if test -z "$(git rev-parse --show-cdup 2>/dev/null)" &&
-	   head=$(git rev-parse --verify --short HEAD 2>/dev/null); then
-
-		# If we are at a tagged commit (like "v2.6.30-rc6"), we ignore
-		# it, because this version is defined in the top level Makefile.
-		if [ -z "$(git describe --exact-match 2>/dev/null)" ]; then
-
-			# If only the short version is requested, don't bother
-			# running further git commands
-			if $short; then
-				echo "+"
-				return
-			fi
-			# If we are past a tagged commit (like
-			# "v2.6.30-rc5-302-g72357d5"), we pretty print it.
-			if atag="$(git describe 2>/dev/null)"; then
-				echo "$atag" | awk -F- '{printf("-%05d-%s", $(NF-1),$(NF))}'
-
-			# If we don't have a tag at all we print -g{commitish}.
-			else
-				printf '%s%s' -g $head
-			fi
-		fi
+	if ! head=$(git rev-parse --verify HEAD 2>/dev/null); then
+		return
+	fi
 
-		# Is this git on svn?
-		if git config --get svn-remote.svn.url >/dev/null; then
-			printf -- '-svn%s' "$(git svn find-rev $head)"
-		fi
+	# mainline kernel:  6.2.0-rc5  ->  v6.2-rc5
+	# stable kernel:    6.1.7      ->  v6.1.7
+	version_tag=v$(echo "${KERNELVERSION}" | sed -E 's/^([0-9]+\.[0-9]+)\.0(.*)$/\1\2/')
+
+	# If a localversion* file exists, and the corresponding
+	# annotated tag exists and is an ancestor of HEAD, use
+	# it. This is the case in linux-next.
+	tag=${file_localversion#-}
+	desc=
+	if [ -n "${tag}" ]; then
+		desc=$(git describe --match=$tag 2>/dev/null)
+	fi
 
-		# Check for uncommitted changes.
-		# First, with git-status, but --no-optional-locks is only
-		# supported in git >= 2.14, so fall back to git-diff-index if
-		# it fails. Note that git-diff-index does not refresh the
-		# index, so it may give misleading results. See
-		# git-update-index(1), git-diff-index(1), and git-status(1).
-		if {
-			git --no-optional-locks status -uno --porcelain 2>/dev/null ||
-			git diff-index --name-only HEAD
-		} | grep -qvE '^(.. )?scripts/package'; then
-			printf '%s' -dirty
-		fi
+	# Otherwise, if a localversion* file exists, and the tag
+	# obtained by appending it to the tag derived from
+	# KERNELVERSION exists and is an ancestor of HEAD, use
+	# it. This is e.g. the case in linux-rt.
+	if [ -z "${desc}" ] && [ -n "${file_localversion}" ]; then
+		tag="${version_tag}${file_localversion}"
+		desc=$(git describe --match=$tag 2>/dev/null)
+	fi
 
-		# All done with git
-		return
+	# Otherwise, default to the annotated tag derived from KERNELVERSION.
+	if [ -z "${desc}" ]; then
+		tag="${version_tag}"
+		desc=$(git describe --match=$tag 2>/dev/null)
 	fi
 
-	# Check for mercurial and a mercurial repo.
-	if test -d .hg && hgid=$(hg id 2>/dev/null); then
-		# Do we have an tagged version?  If so, latesttagdistance == 1
-		if [ "$(hg log -r . --template '{latesttagdistance}')" = "1" ]; then
-			id=$(hg log -r . --template '{latesttag}')
-			printf '%s%s' -hg "$id"
-		else
-			tag=$(printf '%s' "$hgid" | cut -d' ' -f2)
-			if [ -z "$tag" -o "$tag" = tip ]; then
-				id=$(printf '%s' "$hgid" | sed 's/[+ ].*//')
-				printf '%s%s' -hg "$id"
-			fi
+	# If we are at the tagged commit, we ignore it because the version is
+	# well-defined.
+	if [ "${tag}" != "${desc}" ]; then
+
+		# If only the short version is requested, don't bother
+		# running further git commands
+		if $short; then
+			echo "+"
+			return
+		fi
+		# If we are past the tagged commit, we pretty print it.
+		# (like 6.1.0-14595-g292a089d78d3)
+		if [ -n "${desc}" ]; then
+			echo "${desc}" | awk -F- '{printf("-%05d", $(NF-1))}'
 		fi
 
-		# Are there uncommitted changes?
-		# These are represented by + after the changeset id.
-		case "$hgid" in
-			*+|*+\ *) printf '%s' -dirty ;;
-		esac
+		# Add -g and exactly 12 hex chars.
+		printf '%s%s' -g "$(echo $head | cut -c1-12)"
+	fi
 
-		# All done with mercurial
+	if ${no_dirty}; then
 		return
 	fi
 
-	# Check for svn and a svn repo.
-	if rev=$(LANG= LC_ALL= LC_MESSAGES=C svn info 2>/dev/null | grep '^Last Changed Rev'); then
-		rev=$(echo $rev | awk '{print $NF}')
-		printf -- '-svn%s' "$rev"
-
-		# All done with svn
-		return
+	# Check for uncommitted changes.
+	# This script must avoid any write attempt to the source tree, which
+	# might be read-only.
+	# You cannot use 'git describe --dirty' because it tries to create
+	# .git/index.lock .
+	# First, with git-status, but --no-optional-locks is only supported in
+	# git >= 2.14, so fall back to git-diff-index if it fails. Note that
+	# git-diff-index does not refresh the index, so it may give misleading
+	# results.
+	# See git-update-index(1), git-diff-index(1), and git-status(1).
+	if {
+		git --no-optional-locks status -uno --porcelain 2>/dev/null ||
+		git diff-index --name-only HEAD
+	} | read dummy; then
+		printf '%s' -dirty
 	fi
 }
 
@@ -141,48 +144,43 @@ collect_files()
 	echo "$res"
 }
 
-if $scm_only; then
-	if test ! -e .scmversion; then
-		res=$(scm_version)
-		echo "$res" >.scmversion
-	fi
-	exit
-fi
-
-if test -e include/config/auto.conf; then
-	# We are interested only in CONFIG_LOCALVERSION and
-	# CONFIG_LOCALVERSION_AUTO, so extract these in a safe
-	# way (i.e. w/o sourcing auto.conf)
-	# xargs echo removes quotes
-	CONFIG_LOCALVERSION=`cat include/config/auto.conf | awk -F '=' '/^CONFIG_LOCALVERSION=/ {print $2}' | xargs echo`
-	CONFIG_LOCALVERSION_AUTO=`cat include/config/auto.conf | awk -F '=' '/^CONFIG_LOCALVERSION_AUTO=/ {print $2}' | xargs echo`
-else
-	echo "Error: kernelrelease not valid - run 'make prepare' to update it" >&2
+if [ -z "${KERNELVERSION}" ]; then
+	echo "KERNELVERSION is not set" >&2
 	exit 1
 fi
 
 # localversion* files in the build and source directory
-res="$(collect_files localversion*)"
+file_localversion="$(collect_files localversion*)"
 if test ! "$srctree" -ef .; then
-	res="$res$(collect_files "$srctree"/localversion*)"
+	file_localversion="${file_localversion}$(collect_files "$srctree"/localversion*)"
+fi
+
+if ${no_local}; then
+	echo "${KERNELVERSION}$(scm_version --no-dirty)"
+	exit 0
+fi
+
+if ! test -e include/config/auto.conf; then
+	echo "Error: kernelrelease not valid - run 'make prepare' to update it" >&2
+	exit 1
 fi
 
-# CONFIG_LOCALVERSION and LOCALVERSION (if set)
-res="${res}${CONFIG_LOCALVERSION}${LOCALVERSION}"
+# version string from CONFIG_LOCALVERSION
+config_localversion=$(sed -n 's/^CONFIG_LOCALVERSION=\(.*\)$/\1/p' include/config/auto.conf | tr -d '"')
 
-# scm version string if not at a tagged commit
-if test "$CONFIG_LOCALVERSION_AUTO" = "y"; then
+# scm version string if not at the kernel version tag or at the file_localversion
+if grep -q "^CONFIG_LOCALVERSION_AUTO=y$" include/config/auto.conf; then
 	# full scm version string
-	res="$res$(scm_version)"
-else
-	# append a plus sign if the repository is not in a clean
-	# annotated or signed tagged state (as git describe only
-	# looks at signed or annotated tags - git tag -a/-s) and
-	# LOCALVERSION= is not specified
-	if test "${LOCALVERSION+set}" != "set"; then
-		scm=$(scm_version --short)
-		res="$res${scm:++}"
-	fi
+	scm_version="$(scm_version)"
+elif [ "${LOCALVERSION+set}" != "set" ]; then
+	# If the variable LOCALVERSION is not set, append a plus
+	# sign if the repository is not in a clean annotated or
+	# signed tagged state (as git describe only looks at signed
+	# or annotated tags - git tag -a/-s).
+	#
+	# If the variable LOCALVERSION is set (including being set
+	# to an empty string), we don't want to append a plus sign.
+	scm_version="$(scm_version --short)"
 fi
 
-echo "$res"
+echo "${KERNELVERSION}${file_localversion}${config_localversion}${LOCALVERSION}${scm_version}"
