diff --git a/util/signer/build.mk b/util/signer/build.mk
index 07db0ea7ea..88fea91bce 100644
--- a/util/signer/build.mk
+++ b/util/signer/build.mk
@@ -10,7 +10,14 @@ signer_INC := $(addprefix common/, aes.h  ecdh.h  gnubby.h  \
 signer_SRC := codesigner.cc publickey.cc image.cc gnubby.cc aes.cc ecdh.cc
 SIGNER_DEPS := $(addprefix $(signer_ROOT)/, $(signer_SRC) $(signer_INC))
 
-HOST_CXXFLAGS += -I/usr/include/libxml2
-$(out)/util/signer: $(SIGNER_DEPS)
+HOST_CXXFLAGS += -I/usr/include/libxml2 -I $(out)
+$(out)/util/signer: $(SIGNER_DEPS)  $(out)/pmjp.h
 	$(call quiet,cxx_to_host,HOSTCXX)
 
+# When building self signed Cr50 images we still want the epoch/major/minor
+# fields come from the dev manifest. Since a full blown JSON parser for C is
+# not readily available, this rule generates a small .h file with only the
+# fields of interest retrieved from the dev JSON file.
+$(out)/pmjp.h: util/signer/pmjp.py util/signer/ec_RW-manifest-dev.json
+	@echo "  PMJP $@"
+	$(Q)./util/signer/pmjp.py ./util/signer/ec_RW-manifest-dev.json > $@
diff --git a/util/signer/codesigner.cc b/util/signer/codesigner.cc
index f489851ee0..89b23eccd2 100644
--- a/util/signer/codesigner.cc
+++ b/util/signer/codesigner.cc
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@
 #include <common/signed_header.h>
 #ifdef HAVE_JSON
 #include <rapidjson/document.h>
+#else
+#include <pmjp.h>
 #endif
 
 #include <map>
@@ -433,7 +435,9 @@ int main(int argc, char* argv[]) {
   if (jsonFilename.empty()) {
     // Defaults, in case no JSON
     values.insert(make_pair("keyid", key.n0inv()));
-    values.insert(make_pair("epoch", 0x1337));
+    values.insert(make_pair("epoch", MANIFEST_EPOCH));
+    values.insert(make_pair("major", MANIFEST_MAJOR));
+    values.insert(make_pair("minor", MANIFEST_MINOR));
   }
 
   // Hardcoded expectation. Can be overwritten in JSON w/ new explicit value.
diff --git a/util/signer/pmjp.py b/util/signer/pmjp.py
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..92e3db035c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/util/signer/pmjp.py
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+#!/usr/bin/python
+# Copyright 2017 The Chromium OS Authors. All rights reserved.
+# Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style license that can be
+# found in the LICENSE file.
+
+"""Poor man's JSON parser.
+
+This module reads the input JSON file, retrieves from it some name/value pairs
+and generates a .h file to allow a C code use the definitions.
+
+The JSON file name is required to be passed in in the command line, the nodes
+this script pays attention to are included in required_keys tuple below.
+"""
+
+import json
+import sys
+
+required_keys = ('epoch', 'major', 'minor')
+
+
+def main(json_file_name):
+  # get rid of the comments
+  json_text = []
+  h_file_text = ['''
+/*
+ * Copyright %d The Chromium OS Authors. All rights reserved.
+ * Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style license that can be
+ * found in the LICENSE file.
+ */
+
+/* This file was autogenerated, do not edit. */
+''',]
+
+  json_file = open(json_file_name, 'r')
+  for line in json_file.read().splitlines():
+    json_text.append(line.split('//')[0])
+
+  j = json.loads('\n'.join(json_text))
+
+  for key in required_keys:
+    if key in j.keys():
+      value = j[key]
+    else:
+      value = '0'
+
+    h_file_text.append('#define MANIFEST_%s %s' % (key.upper(), value))
+
+  h_file_text.append('')
+  return '\n'.join(h_file_text)
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+  print main(sys.argv[1])