diff --git a/mcelog.spec b/mcelog.spec
index fe76b34..76f9790 100644
--- a/mcelog.spec
+++ b/mcelog.spec
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 Summary:	Tool to translate x86-64 CPU Machine Check Exception data
 Name:		mcelog
 Version:	180
-Release:	0%{?dist}
+Release:	1%{?dist}
 Epoch:		3
 License:	GPLv2
 URL:		https://github.com/andikleen/mcelog
@@ -24,6 +24,9 @@ on x86-32 and x86-64 systems.
 %autosetup
 
 %build
+# automatically populate the .os_version file so that "mcelog --version"
+# returns a valid value instead of "unknown"
+echo "%{version}-%{release}" > .os_version
 %make_build CFLAGS="$RPM_OPT_FLAGS" LDFLAGS="$RPM_LD_FLAGS"
 
 %install
@@ -60,6 +63,9 @@ install -p -m644 mcelog*.5 $RPM_BUILD_ROOT/%{_mandir}/man5/
 %{_mandir}/*/*
 
 %changelog
+* Wed Apr 20 2022 Prarit Bhargava <prarit@redhat.com> - 3:180-1
+- update .os_version
+
 * Wed Mar 09 2022 Prarit Bhargava <prarit@redhat.com> - 3:180-0
 - Update to v180 [2040073]