diff --git a/tools/tracing/rtla/Makefile b/tools/tracing/rtla/Makefile
index 7c39728d08de..5a1eda617992 100644
--- a/tools/tracing/rtla/Makefile
+++ b/tools/tracing/rtla/Makefile
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 NAME	:=	rtla
-VERSION	:=	0.5
+# Follow the kernel version
+VERSION :=	$(shell cat VERSION 2> /dev/null || make -sC ../../.. kernelversion)
 
 # From libtracefs:
 # Makefiles suck: This macro sets a default value of $(2) for the
@@ -85,6 +86,7 @@ clean: doc_clean
 
 tarball: clean
 	rm -rf $(NAME)-$(VERSION) && mkdir $(NAME)-$(VERSION)
+	echo $(VERSION) > $(NAME)-$(VERSION)/VERSION
 	cp -r $(DIRS) $(FILES) $(NAME)-$(VERSION)
 	mkdir $(NAME)-$(VERSION)/Documentation/
 	cp -rp $(SRCTREE)/../../../Documentation/tools/rtla/* $(NAME)-$(VERSION)/Documentation/