diff --git a/package/build_boards_manager_package.sh b/package/build_boards_manager_package.sh
index 40050f443..dc15f90fc 100755
--- a/package/build_boards_manager_package.sh
+++ b/package/build_boards_manager_package.sh
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ $SED -E "s/name=([a-zA-Z0-9\ -]+).*/name=\1(${ver})/g"\
 #echo "#define ARDUINO_ESP8266_GIT_DESC `git describe --tags 2>/dev/null`" >>${outdir}/cores/esp8266/core_version.h
 #echo "#define ARDUINO_ESP8266_RELEASE_${ver_define}" >>${outdir}/cores/esp8266/core_version.h
 #echo "#define ARDUINO_ESP8266_RELEASE \"${ver_define}\"" >>${outdir}/cores/esp8266/core_version.h
-python3 ${srcdir}/tools/makecorever.py -b ${outdir} -i cores/esp8266 -p ${srcdir} -v ${plain_ver} -r
+python3 ${srcdir}/tools/makecorever.py --git-root ${srcdir} --version ${plain_ver} --release ${outdir}/cores/esp8266/core_version.h
 
 # Zip the package
 pushd package/versions/${visiblever}
diff --git a/tests/common.sh b/tests/common.sh
index d26db8f3a..c52756d17 100755
--- a/tests/common.sh
+++ b/tests/common.sh
@@ -312,6 +312,7 @@ function install_core()
         "compiler.c.extra_flags=-Wall -Wextra $debug_flags" \
         "compiler.cpp.extra_flags=-Wall -Wextra $debug_flags" \
         "mkbuildoptglobals.extra_flags=--ci --cache_core" \
+        "recipe.hooks.prebuild.1.pattern=\"{runtime.tools.python3.path}/python3\" -I \"{runtime.tools.makecorever}\" --git-root \"{runtime.platform.path}\" --version \"{version}\" \"{runtime.platform.path}/cores/esp8266/core_version.h\"" \
             > ${core_path}/platform.local.txt
     echo -e "\n----platform.local.txt----"
     cat platform.local.txt
diff --git a/tests/sanity_check.sh b/tests/sanity_check.sh
index a4754a0ed..f5f2a6f2e 100755
--- a/tests/sanity_check.sh
+++ b/tests/sanity_check.sh
@@ -5,8 +5,9 @@ source "$root/tests/common.sh"
 
 pushd "$root"/tools
 python3 get.py -q
-
+python3 makecorever.py --git-root "$root" "$root/cores/esp8266/core_version.h"
 popd
+
 pushd "$cache_dir"
 
 gcc="$root/tools/xtensa-lx106-elf/bin/xtensa-lx106-elf-gcc"\
diff --git a/tools/makecorever.py b/tools/makecorever.py
index 9062e5b4d..939120fff 100755
--- a/tools/makecorever.py
+++ b/tools/makecorever.py
@@ -56,7 +56,6 @@ def check_git(*args: str, cwd: Optional[str]):
 
 
 def generate(
-    out: TextIO,
     *,
     git_root: pathlib.Path,
     hash_length: int = 8,
@@ -118,7 +117,7 @@ def generate(
 #define ARDUINO_ESP8266_DEV       1 // development version
 """
 
-    out.write(text)
+    return text
 
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
@@ -158,20 +157,18 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
 
     args = parser.parse_args()
 
-    def select_output(s: str) -> TextIO:
-        if not s:
-            return sys.stdout
+    contents = generate(
+        git_root=args.git_root,
+        hash_length=args.hash_length,
+        release=args.release,
+        version=args.version,
+    )
 
-        out = pathlib.Path(s)
+    if args.output:
+        out = pathlib.Path(args.output)
         out.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
 
-        return out.open("w", encoding="utf-8")
-
-    with select_output(args.output) as out:
-        generate(
-            out,
-            git_root=args.git_root,
-            hash_length=args.hash_length,
-            release=args.release,
-            version=args.version,
-        )
+        if not out.exists() or contents != out.read_text(encoding="utf-8"):
+            out.write_text(contents, encoding="utf-8")
+    else:
+        print(contents, file=sys.stdout)