-nullstring :=
-space := $(nullstring) # end of line
-
-___localver = $(objtree)/localversion* $(srctree)/localversion*
-__localver = $(sort $(wildcard $(___localver)))
-# skip backup files (containing '~')
-_localver = $(foreach f, $(__localver), $(if $(findstring ~, $(f)),,$(f)))
+pattern = ".*/localversion[^~]*"
+string = $(shell cat /dev/null \
+ `find $(objtree) $(srctree) -maxdepth 1 -regex $(pattern) | sort`)