diff --git a/src/Makefile.housekeeping b/src/Makefile.housekeeping
index 274945ae5..f54008cfc 100644
--- a/src/Makefile.housekeeping
+++ b/src/Makefile.housekeeping
@@ -1303,31 +1303,6 @@ $(CONFIG_LOCAL_NAMED_HEADERS) :
 
 endif
 
-###############################################################################
-#
-# Auto-incrementing build serial number.  Append "bs" to your list of
-# build targets to get a serial number printed at the end of the
-# build.  Enable -DBUILD_SERIAL in order to see it when the code runs.
-#
-BUILDSERIAL_H		= config/.buildserial.h
-BUILDSERIAL_NOW		= config/.buildserial.now
-BUILDSERIAL_NEXT	= config/.buildserial.next
-
-$(BUILDSERIAL_NOW) $(BUILDSERIAL_NEXT) :
-	$(ECHO) 1 > $@
-
-$(BUILDSERIAL_H) : $(BUILDSERIAL_NOW) $(BUILDSERIAL_NEXT)
-	$(ECHO) '#define BUILD_SERIAL_NUM $(shell cat $<)' > $@
-
-ifeq ($(filter bs,$(MAKECMDGOALS)),bs)
-$(shell diff -q $(BUILDSERIAL_NOW) $(BUILDSERIAL_NEXT) > /dev/null || \
-	cp -f $(BUILDSERIAL_NEXT) $(BUILDSERIAL_NOW))
-endif
-
-bs : $(BUILDSERIAL_NOW)
-	@$(ECHO) $$(( $(shell cat $<) + 1 )) > $(BUILDSERIAL_NEXT)
-	@$(ECHO) "Build serial number is $(shell cat $<)"
-
 ###############################################################################
 #
 # Build the TAGS file(s) for emacs
diff --git a/src/config/.gitignore b/src/config/.gitignore
deleted file mode 100644
index 8e94f32fe..000000000
--- a/src/config/.gitignore
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-.buildserial.*
diff --git a/src/config/config.c b/src/config/config.c
index 346f79bfc..e4d378f00 100644
--- a/src/config/config.c
+++ b/src/config/config.c
@@ -44,34 +44,6 @@ FILE_LICENCE ( GPL2_OR_LATER_OR_UBDL );
  * in the final iPXE executable built.
  */
 
-/*
- * Build ID string calculations
- *
- */
-#undef XSTR
-#undef STR
-#define XSTR(s) STR(s)
-#define STR(s) #s
-
-#ifdef BUILD_SERIAL
-#include "config/.buildserial.h"
-#define BUILD_SERIAL_STR " #" XSTR(BUILD_SERIAL_NUM)
-#else
-#define BUILD_SERIAL_STR ""
-#endif
-
-#ifdef BUILD_ID
-#define BUILD_ID_STR " " BUILD_ID
-#else
-#define BUILD_ID_STR ""
-#endif
-
-#if defined(BUILD_ID) || defined(BUILD_SERIAL)
-#define BUILD_STRING " [build" BUILD_ID_STR BUILD_SERIAL_STR "]"
-#else
-#define BUILD_STRING ""
-#endif
-
 /*
  * Drag in all requested console types
  *
diff --git a/src/include/.gitignore b/src/include/.gitignore
deleted file mode 100644
index de1598ef3..000000000
--- a/src/include/.gitignore
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-.buildserial.h