diff --git a/.editorconfig b/.editorconfig
index cd8012574508..8d54e327b9f9 100644
--- a/.editorconfig
+++ b/.editorconfig
@@ -17,6 +17,10 @@ end_of_line = unset
 insert_final_newline = unset
 trim_trailing_whitespace = unset
 
+# We want readFile .version to return the version without a newline.
+[.version]
+insert_final_newline = false
+
 # see https://nixos.org/nixpkgs/manual/#chap-conventions
 
 # Match json/lockfiles/markdown/nix/perl/python/ruby/shell/docbook files, set indent to spaces
diff --git a/.version b/.version
deleted file mode 100644
index 420f61e8c7f6..000000000000
--- a/.version
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-24.05
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.version b/.version
new file mode 120000
index 000000000000..a408b4d1748c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.version
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+lib/.version
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/lib/.version b/lib/.version
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..420f61e8c7f6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/.version
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+24.05
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/lib/tests/test-with-nix.nix b/lib/tests/test-with-nix.nix
index fd2e7532e697..9d66b91cab42 100644
--- a/lib/tests/test-with-nix.nix
+++ b/lib/tests/test-with-nix.nix
@@ -53,6 +53,12 @@ pkgs.runCommand "nixpkgs-lib-tests-nix-${nix.version}" {
   echo "Running lib/tests/modules.sh"
   bash lib/tests/modules.sh
 
+  echo "Checking lib.version"
+  nix-instantiate lib -A version --eval || {
+    echo "lib.version does not evaluate when lib is isolated from the rest of the nixpkgs tree"
+    exit 1
+  }
+
   echo "Running lib/tests/filesystem.sh"
   TEST_LIB=$PWD/lib bash lib/tests/filesystem.sh
 
diff --git a/lib/trivial.nix b/lib/trivial.nix
index fa499cbbf028..c197822a4f8e 100644
--- a/lib/trivial.nix
+++ b/lib/trivial.nix
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ in {
   version = release + versionSuffix;
 
   /* Returns the current nixpkgs release number as string. */
-  release = lib.strings.fileContents ../.version;
+  release = lib.strings.fileContents ./.version;
 
   /* The latest release that is supported, at the time of release branch-off,
      if applicable.