diff --git a/src/.gitignore b/src/.gitignore
index 3ae05079d211d2c043615cf93be2013449090506..89dc852b1aa0dc9b9a64eb6ba9e57998bbb1fe57 100644
--- a/src/.gitignore
+++ b/src/.gitignore
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 /lmp_*
 
 /style_*.h
+/lmpcompiledate.h
 
 /*_gpu.h
 /*_gpu.cpp
diff --git a/src/Purge.list b/src/Purge.list
index 2e854ead3d577e4d6cb1a968e814f1cbdb954e65..7defdfe1c23c6da430d0c5dfddd8b4aa49cd28b0 100644
--- a/src/Purge.list
+++ b/src/Purge.list
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@ style_region.h
 style_neigh_bin.h
 style_neigh_pair.h
 style_neigh_stencil.h
+# other auto-generated files
+lmpcompiledate.h
 # deleted on 4 April 2018
 pair_kim_version.h
 # deleted on 15 December 2017
diff --git a/src/lammps.cpp b/src/lammps.cpp
index cd6720c8e6d9d9e4f49347d4c041b631163ea5d8..53a17c717d3f0101fb4016e048b0d4c7fb6308da 100644
--- a/src/lammps.cpp
+++ b/src/lammps.cpp
@@ -978,8 +978,6 @@ void print_style(FILE *fp, const char *str, int &pos)
   }
 }
 
-#include "lmpcompiledate.h"
-
 static const char lammps_config_options[]
 = "LAMMPS compile time settings:\n\n"
   "Integer sizes setting:    "
@@ -1036,8 +1034,10 @@ static const char lammps_config_options[]
 #endif
   "\n";
 
+#include "lmpcompiledate.h"
+
 void LAMMPS::print_config(FILE *fp)
 {
+  fprintf(fp,"LAMMPS compiled on: %s\n\n",lammps_compile_date);
   fputs(lammps_config_options,fp);
-  fprintf(fp,"LAMMPS compiled on: %s\n",lammps_compile_date); 
 }