diff --git a/src/libostree/ostree-deployment-private.h b/src/libostree/ostree-deployment-private.h
index ad77317d79..880f9b562d 100644
--- a/src/libostree/ostree-deployment-private.h
+++ b/src/libostree/ostree-deployment-private.h
@@ -52,8 +52,10 @@ struct _OstreeDeployment
   GKeyFile *origin;
   OstreeDeploymentUnlockedState unlocked;
   gboolean staged;
+  gchar *version;
 };
 
 void _ostree_deployment_set_bootcsum (OstreeDeployment *self, const char *bootcsum);
+char *_ostree_deployment_get_version (OstreeDeployment *self, OstreeRepo *repo, GError **error);
 
 G_END_DECLS
diff --git a/src/libostree/ostree-deployment.c b/src/libostree/ostree-deployment.c
index 6532a973dc..9d5763b255 100644
--- a/src/libostree/ostree-deployment.c
+++ b/src/libostree/ostree-deployment.c
@@ -63,6 +63,30 @@ ostree_deployment_get_bootserial (OstreeDeployment *self)
   return self->bootserial;
 }
 
+char *
+_ostree_deployment_get_version (OstreeDeployment  *self,
+                                OstreeRepo        *repo,
+                                GError           **error)
+{
+  g_return_val_if_fail (repo != NULL, NULL);
+
+  if (self->version != NULL)
+    return self->version;
+
+  /* Try extracting a version for this deployment. */
+  const gchar *csum = ostree_deployment_get_csum (self);
+
+  g_autoptr(GVariant) variant = NULL;
+  if (!ostree_repo_load_variant (repo, OSTREE_OBJECT_TYPE_COMMIT, csum,
+                                 &variant, error))
+    return NULL;
+
+  g_autoptr(GVariant) metadata = g_variant_get_child_value (variant, 0);
+  g_variant_lookup (metadata, OSTREE_COMMIT_META_KEY_VERSION, "s", &self->version);
+
+  return self->version;
+}
+
 /**
  * ostree_deployment_get_bootconfig:
  * @self: Deployment
@@ -172,6 +196,8 @@ ostree_deployment_clone (OstreeDeployment *self)
                                                  self->deployserial,
                                                  self->bootcsum, self->bootserial);
 
+  ret->version = g_strdup (self->version);
+
   new_bootconfig = ostree_bootconfig_parser_clone (self->bootconfig);
   ostree_deployment_set_bootconfig (ret, new_bootconfig);
 
@@ -236,6 +262,7 @@ ostree_deployment_finalize (GObject *object)
   g_free (self->osname);
   g_free (self->csum);
   g_free (self->bootcsum);
+  g_free (self->version);
   g_clear_object (&self->bootconfig);
   g_clear_pointer (&self->origin, g_key_file_unref);
 
diff --git a/src/libostree/ostree-sysroot-deploy.c b/src/libostree/ostree-sysroot-deploy.c
index ee00c02c5e..6fc851c29b 100644
--- a/src/libostree/ostree-sysroot-deploy.c
+++ b/src/libostree/ostree-sysroot-deploy.c
@@ -1783,24 +1783,8 @@ install_deployment_kernel (OstreeSysroot   *sysroot,
   if (val == NULL)
     return glnx_throw (error, "No PRETTY_NAME or ID in /etc/os-release");
 
-  g_autofree char *deployment_version = NULL;
-  if (repo)
-    {
-      /* Try extracting a version for this deployment. */
-      const char *csum = ostree_deployment_get_csum (deployment);
-      g_autoptr(GVariant) variant = NULL;
-      g_autoptr(GVariant) metadata = NULL;
-
-      /* XXX Copying ot_admin_checksum_version() + bits from
-       *     ot-admin-builtin-status.c.  Maybe this should be
-       *     public API in libostree? */
-      if (ostree_repo_load_variant (repo, OSTREE_OBJECT_TYPE_COMMIT, csum,
-                                    &variant, NULL))
-        {
-          metadata = g_variant_get_child_value (variant, 0);
-          g_variant_lookup (metadata, OSTREE_COMMIT_META_KEY_VERSION, "s", &deployment_version);
-        }
-    }
+  const gchar *deployment_version =
+      _ostree_deployment_get_version (deployment, repo, error);
 
   /* XXX The SYSLINUX bootloader backend actually parses the title string
    *     (specifically, it looks for the substring "(ostree"), so further