diff --git a/tools/admin/build-engine-tree.sh b/tools/admin/build-engine-tree.sh
index f98327850c..7f8f66caba 100755
--- a/tools/admin/build-engine-tree.sh
+++ b/tools/admin/build-engine-tree.sh
@@ -44,3 +44,10 @@ rm -rf "$TARGET_DIR"/examples/other
 
 # mark directory with current git sha
 git rev-parse HEAD > "$TARGET_DIR/.git_version.txt"
+
+# generate engine version: directory hash that depends only on file
+# contents but nothing else, eg modification time
+echo -n "Computing engine version... "
+ENGINE_VERSION=$("$TARGET_DIR"/tools/admin/hash-dir.sh)
+echo $ENGINE_VERSION
+echo "$ENGINE_VERSION" > "$TARGET_DIR/.engine_version.txt"