Index: main/config.c
===================================================================
--- main/config.c	(revision 188456)
+++ main/config.c	(working copy)
@@ -47,6 +47,8 @@
 #include "asterisk/app.h"
 #include "asterisk/astobj2.h"
 #include "asterisk/strings.h"	/* for the ast_str_*() API */
+#include "asterisk/buildinfo.h"
+#include "asterisk/ast_version.h"
 
 #define MAX_NESTED_COMMENTS 128
 #define COMMENT_START ";--"
@@ -1073,7 +1075,7 @@
 			if (!ast_test_flag(&flags, CONFIG_FLAG_NOCACHE))
 				config_cache_attribute(configfile, ATTRIBUTE_EXEC, NULL, who_asked);
 			snprintf(exec_file, sizeof(exec_file), "/var/tmp/exec.%d%d.%ld", (int)now.tv_sec, (int)now.tv_usec, (long)pthread_self());
-			snprintf(cmd, sizeof(cmd), "%s > %s 2>&1", cur, exec_file);
+			snprintf(cmd, sizeof(cmd),"export AST_SYSTEMNAME=\"%s\"; export AST_BUILD_HOST=\"%s\"; export AST_BUILD_DATE=\"%s\"; export AST_BUILD_KERNEL=\"%s\"; export AST_BUILD_MACHINE=\"%s\"; export AST_BUILD_OS=\"%s\"; export AST_BUILD_USER=\"%s\"; export AST_VERSION=\"%s\"; %s > %s 2>&1", ast_config_AST_SYSTEM_NAME, ast_build_hostname,	ast_build_date,	ast_build_kernel, ast_build_machine, ast_build_os, ast_build_user, ast_get_version(), cur, exec_file);
 			ast_safe_system(cmd);
 			cur = exec_file;
 		} else {
Index: funcs/func_build.c
===================================================================
--- funcs/func_build.c	(revision 0)
+++ funcs/func_build.c	(revision 0)
@@ -0,0 +1,100 @@
+/*
+ * Asterisk -- An open source telephony toolkit.
+ *
+ * Copyright (C) 1999 - 2009, Digium, Inc.
+ *
+ * Mark Spencer <markster@digium.com>
+ *
+ * See http://www.asterisk.org for more information about
+ * the Asterisk project. Please do not directly contact
+ * any of the maintainers of this project for assistance;
+ * the project provides a web site, mailing lists and IRC
+ * channels for your use.
+ *
+ * This program is free software, distributed under the terms of
+ * the GNU General Public License Version 2. See the LICENSE file
+ * at the top of the source tree.
+ */
+
+/*! \file
+ *
+ * \brief build variables dialplan function
+ *
+ * \author Julian Lyndon-Smith <asterisk@dotr.com> 
+ * \ingroup functions
+ */
+
+#include "asterisk.h"
+
+ASTERISK_FILE_VERSION(__FILE__, "$Revision:$")
+
+#include "asterisk/module.h"
+#include "asterisk/channel.h"
+#include "asterisk/pbx.h"
+#include "asterisk/utils.h"
+#include "asterisk/app.h"
+#include "asterisk/buildinfo.h"
+#include "asterisk/ast_version.h"
+
+static int buildinfo_read(struct ast_channel *chan, const char *cmd, char *data,
+			char *buf, size_t len)
+{
+	if (!chan)
+		return -1;
+
+	if (!data) {
+		ast_log(LOG_ERROR, "Must specify build variable to get.\n");
+		return -1;
+	}
+
+	if (!strncasecmp("all", data, 3)) {
+			snprintf(buf, len, "%s,%s,%s,%s,%s,%s,%s",
+				 ast_build_hostname,ast_build_kernel,ast_build_machine,ast_build_os,ast_build_date,ast_build_user,ast_get_version());
+		} else if (!strncasecmp("hostname", data, 8)) {
+				ast_copy_string(buf, ast_build_hostname, len);
+		} else if (!strncasecmp("kernel", data, 6)) {
+				ast_copy_string(buf, ast_build_kernel, len);
+		} else if (!strncasecmp("machine", data, 7)) {
+				ast_copy_string(buf, ast_build_machine, len);
+		} else if (!strncasecmp("os", data, 2)) {
+				ast_copy_string(buf, ast_build_os, len);
+		} else if (!strncasecmp("date", data, 4)) {
+				ast_copy_string(buf, ast_build_date, len);
+		} else if (!strncasecmp("user", data, 4)) {
+				ast_copy_string(buf, ast_build_kernel, len);
+		} else if (!strncasecmp("version", data, 6)) {
+				ast_copy_string(buf, ast_get_version(), len);
+		}
+	return 0;
+}
+
+static struct ast_custom_function build_function = {
+	.name = "AST_BUILD",
+	.synopsis = "Gets various build variables.",
+	.syntax = "AST_BUILD(variablename)",
+	.desc =
+		"Gets various build variables. The variables that are available are:\n"
+		"\n"
+		"      all	: build hostname,build kernel,build machine,build os,build date,build user,build version\n"
+		"      hostname	: build hostname\n"
+		"      kernel	: build kernel\n" 
+		"      machine	: build machine\n" 
+		"      os	: build os\n"
+		"      date	: build date\n" 
+		"      user	: build user\n"
+		"      version	: build version\n",
+	.read = buildinfo_read,
+};
+
+static int unload_module(void)
+{
+	return ast_custom_function_unregister(&build_function);
+}
+
+static int load_module(void)
+{
+	return ast_custom_function_register(&build_function);
+}
+
+AST_MODULE_INFO_STANDARD(ASTERISK_GPL_KEY, "Build variables dialplan function");
+