diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 5f61caf57..5dc25077c 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -3552,6 +3552,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "pubsys",
  "pubsys-setup",
  "serde",
+ "serde_json",
  "sha2",
  "tar",
  "tempfile",
diff --git a/tests/projects/project1/Release.toml b/tests/projects/project1/Release.toml
deleted file mode 100644
index 5820a7290..000000000
--- a/tests/projects/project1/Release.toml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-version = "0.0.1"
diff --git a/tests/projects/project1/variants/Cargo.lock b/tests/projects/project1/variants/Cargo.lock
index 9291e5672..54165822b 100644
--- a/tests/projects/project1/variants/Cargo.lock
+++ b/tests/projects/project1/variants/Cargo.lock
@@ -2,14 +2,6 @@
 # It is not intended for manual editing.
 version = 3
 
-[[package]]
-name = "aws-test-1"
-version = "0.1.0"
-dependencies = [
- "hello-agent",
- "hello-go",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "hello-agent"
 version = "0.1.0"
diff --git a/twoliter/Cargo.toml b/twoliter/Cargo.toml
index ff1e85cd3..db7a8c81a 100644
--- a/twoliter/Cargo.toml
+++ b/twoliter/Cargo.toml
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ hex = "0.4"
 log = "0.4"
 non-empty-string = { version = "0.2", features = [ "serde" ] }
 serde = { version = "1", features = ["derive"] }
+serde_json = "1"
 sha2 = "0.10"
 tar = "0.4"
 tempfile = "3"
diff --git a/twoliter/embedded/Makefile.toml b/twoliter/embedded/Makefile.toml
index 87b2c554a..d71d9d49f 100644
--- a/twoliter/embedded/Makefile.toml
+++ b/twoliter/embedded/Makefile.toml
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ BUILDSYS_VERSION_BUILD = { script = ["git describe --always --dirty --exclude '*
 # later in this section.  You have to edit the path here in Makefile.toml to
 # use a different Release.toml.
 BUILDSYS_RELEASE_CONFIG_PATH = "${BUILDSYS_ROOT_DIR}/Release.toml"
-BUILDSYS_VERSION_IMAGE = { script = ["awk -F '[ =\"]+' '$1 == \"version\" {print $2}' ${BUILDSYS_RELEASE_CONFIG_PATH}"] }
+
 # This can be overridden with -e to build a different variant from the variants/ directory
 BUILDSYS_VARIANT = { script = ['echo "${BUILDSYS_VARIANT:-aws-k8s-1.24}"'] }
 # Product name used for file and directory naming
@@ -137,6 +137,8 @@ TESTSYS_LOG_LEVEL = "info"
 # Certain variables are defined here to allow us to override a component value
 # on the command line.
 
+BUILDSYS_VERSION_IMAGE = { script = ["awk -F '[ =\"]+' '$1 == \"version\" {print $2}' ${BUILDSYS_RELEASE_CONFIG_PATH}"], condition = { env_not_set = ["BUILDSYS_VERSION_IMAGE"]}}
+
 # Depends on ${BUILDSYS_JOBS}.
 CARGO_MAKE_CARGO_LIMIT_JOBS = "--jobs ${BUILDSYS_JOBS}"
 CARGO_MAKE_CARGO_ARGS = "--offline --locked"
diff --git a/twoliter/src/cmd/build.rs b/twoliter/src/cmd/build.rs
index 36e78b430..bc967cb9e 100644
--- a/twoliter/src/cmd/build.rs
+++ b/twoliter/src/cmd/build.rs
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ use crate::cargo_make::CargoMake;
 use crate::docker::DockerContainer;
 use crate::project;
 use crate::tools::{install_tools, tools_tempdir};
+use crate::variant::variant_version;
 use anyhow::{Context, Result};
 use clap::Parser;
 use log::debug;
@@ -50,6 +51,8 @@ impl BuildVariant {
             .context("Unable to create a tempdir for Twoliter's build")?;
         let packages_dir = build_temp_dir.path().join("sdk_rpms");
         fs::create_dir_all(&packages_dir)?;
+        let variant_version =
+            variant_version(&project.project_dir().join("variants"), &self.variant).await?;
 
         let sdk_container = DockerContainer::new(
             format!("sdk-{}", token),
@@ -107,6 +110,7 @@ impl BuildVariant {
             .env("BUILDSYS_ARCH", &self.arch)
             .env("BUILDSYS_VARIANT", &self.variant)
             .env("BUILDSYS_SBKEYS_DIR", sbkeys_dir.display().to_string())
+            .env("BUILDSYS_VERSION_IMAGE", variant_version)
             .makefile(makefile_path)
             .project_dir(project.project_dir())
             .exec("build")
diff --git a/twoliter/src/cmd/new.rs b/twoliter/src/cmd/new.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e69de29bb
diff --git a/twoliter/src/common.rs b/twoliter/src/common.rs
index 9378614ee..32bfb9a9a 100644
--- a/twoliter/src/common.rs
+++ b/twoliter/src/common.rs
@@ -9,15 +9,16 @@ pub(crate) async fn exec_log(cmd: &mut Command) -> Result<()> {
         log::max_level(),
         LevelFilter::Off | LevelFilter::Error | LevelFilter::Warn
     );
-    exec(cmd, quiet).await
+    exec(cmd, quiet).await?;
+    Ok(())
 }
 
 /// Run a `tokio::process::Command` and return a `Result` letting us know whether or not it worked.
 /// `quiet` determines whether or not the command output will be piped to `stdout/stderr`. When
-/// `quiet=true`, no output will be shown.
-pub(crate) async fn exec(cmd: &mut Command, quiet: bool) -> Result<()> {
+/// `quiet=true`, no output will be shown and will be returned instead.
+pub(crate) async fn exec(cmd: &mut Command, quiet: bool) -> Result<String> {
     debug!("Running: {:?}", cmd);
-    if quiet {
+    Ok(if quiet {
         // For quiet levels of logging we capture stdout and stderr
         let output = cmd
             .output()
@@ -30,6 +31,8 @@ pub(crate) async fn exec(cmd: &mut Command, quiet: bool) -> Result<()> {
             String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stdout),
             String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stderr)
         );
+
+        String::from_utf8(output.stdout).context("Unable to convert command output to `String`")?
     } else {
         // For less quiet log levels we stream to stdout and stderr.
         let status = cmd
@@ -42,6 +45,7 @@ pub(crate) async fn exec(cmd: &mut Command, quiet: bool) -> Result<()> {
             "Command was unsuccessful, exit code {}",
             status.code().unwrap_or(1),
         );
-    }
-    Ok(())
+
+        "".to_string()
+    })
 }
diff --git a/twoliter/src/docker/container.rs b/twoliter/src/docker/container.rs
index 7ccec0961..b16e51344 100644
--- a/twoliter/src/docker/container.rs
+++ b/twoliter/src/docker/container.rs
@@ -51,7 +51,8 @@ impl DockerContainer {
         let mut args = vec!["cp".to_string()];
         args.push(format!("{}:{}", self.name, src.as_ref().display()));
         args.push(dest.as_ref().display().to_string());
-        exec(Command::new("docker").args(args), true).await
+        exec(Command::new("docker").args(args), true).await?;
+        Ok(())
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/twoliter/src/main.rs b/twoliter/src/main.rs
index 9a3ea4be6..37d544bbc 100644
--- a/twoliter/src/main.rs
+++ b/twoliter/src/main.rs
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ mod common;
 mod docker;
 mod project;
 mod tools;
+mod variant;
 
 /// Test code that should only be compiled when running tests.
 #[cfg(test)]
diff --git a/twoliter/src/test/data/variants/test-variant/Cargo.lock b/twoliter/src/test/data/variants/test-variant/Cargo.lock
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..36277dfcd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/twoliter/src/test/data/variants/test-variant/Cargo.lock
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+# This file is automatically @generated by Cargo.
+# It is not intended for manual editing.
+version = 3
+
+[[package]]
+name = "test-variant"
+version = "0.1.0"
diff --git a/twoliter/src/test/data/variants/test-variant/Cargo.toml b/twoliter/src/test/data/variants/test-variant/Cargo.toml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f9bc2cd35
--- /dev/null
+++ b/twoliter/src/test/data/variants/test-variant/Cargo.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+[package]
+name = "test-variant"
+version = "0.1.0"
+edition = "2021"
+
+# See more keys and their definitions at https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/manifest.html
+
+[dependencies]
+
+[workspace]
diff --git a/twoliter/src/test/data/variants/test-variant/src/main.rs b/twoliter/src/test/data/variants/test-variant/src/main.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e7a11a969
--- /dev/null
+++ b/twoliter/src/test/data/variants/test-variant/src/main.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+fn main() {
+    println!("Hello, world!");
+}
diff --git a/twoliter/src/test/mod.rs b/twoliter/src/test/mod.rs
index bead937ef..b49ad0970 100644
--- a/twoliter/src/test/mod.rs
+++ b/twoliter/src/test/mod.rs
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ be compiled for `cfg(test)`, which is accomplished at its declaration in `main.r
 
 !*/
 mod cargo_make;
+mod variant_version;
 use std::path::PathBuf;
 
 /// Return the canonical path to the directory where we store test data.
diff --git a/twoliter/src/test/variant_version.rs b/twoliter/src/test/variant_version.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0027a77fd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/twoliter/src/test/variant_version.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+use crate::{test::data_dir, variant::variant_version};
+
+#[tokio::test]
+async fn test_variant_version() {
+    assert_eq!(
+        variant_version(&data_dir().join("variants"), "test-variant")
+            .await
+            .unwrap(),
+        "0.1.0"
+    );
+}
diff --git a/twoliter/src/variant.rs b/twoliter/src/variant.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..195b68d17
--- /dev/null
+++ b/twoliter/src/variant.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+use crate::common::exec;
+use anyhow::{Context, Result};
+use serde_json::Value;
+use std::path::Path;
+use tokio::process::Command;
+
+pub(crate) async fn variant_version<S>(variants_dir: &Path, variant: S) -> Result<String>
+where
+    S: AsRef<str>,
+{
+    serde_json::from_str::<Value>(
+        &exec(
+            Command::new("cargo").args([
+                "metadata",
+                "--manifest-path",
+                &variants_dir
+                    .join(variant.as_ref())
+                    .join("Cargo.toml")
+                    .display()
+                    .to_string(),
+                "--no-deps",
+                "--format-version",
+                "1",
+            ]),
+            true,
+        )
+        .await?,
+    )?
+    .as_object()
+    .context("Unexpected output format from `cargo metadata`")?
+    .get("packages")
+    .and_then(Value::as_array)
+    .context("`packages` is not an array")?
+    .iter()
+    .find(|value| {
+        value
+            .as_object()
+            .map(|object| object.get("name") == Some(&Value::String(variant.as_ref().into())))
+            .unwrap_or_default()
+    })
+    .and_then(Value::as_object)
+    .and_then(|object| object.get("version"))
+    .and_then(Value::as_str)
+    .map(str::to_string)
+    .context("Unable to get variant version from Cargo.toml metadata")
+}