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/tests/test-with-nix.nix b/lib/tests/test-with-nix.nix
index 9bc160a4682a..fd2e7532e697 100644
--- a/lib/tests/test-with-nix.nix
+++ b/lib/tests/test-with-nix.nix
@@ -49,15 +49,6 @@ pkgs.runCommand "nixpkgs-lib-tests-nix-${nix.version}" {
 
   nix-store --init
 
-  # nixpkgs/lib/.version is a copy of nixpkgs/.version, so that the lib
-  # subtree is valid in isolation (except for the tests, but that's ok)
-  cp ${../../.version} nixpkgs-.version
-  cp ${../.version} nixpkgs-lib-.version
-  diff -U3 nixpkgs-.version nixpkgs-lib-.version || {
-    echo '<nixpkgs/.version> and <nixpkgs/lib/.version> must match.'
-    exit 1
-  }
-
   cp -r ${../.} lib
   echo "Running lib/tests/modules.sh"
   bash lib/tests/modules.sh