diff --git a/docs/en/api-guides/build-system.rst b/docs/en/api-guides/build-system.rst
index d4aa7ef58898..154528a4e514 100644
--- a/docs/en/api-guides/build-system.rst
+++ b/docs/en/api-guides/build-system.rst
@@ -361,6 +361,7 @@ The following are some project/build variables that are available as build prope
   * If :ref:`CONFIG_APP_PROJECT_VER_FROM_CONFIG` option is set, the value of :ref:`CONFIG_APP_PROJECT_VER` will be used.
   * Else, if ``PROJECT_VER`` variable is set in project CMakeLists.txt file, its value will be used.
   * Else, if the ``PROJECT_DIR/version.txt`` exists, its contents will be used as ``PROJECT_VER``.
+  * Else, if ``PROJECT_VERSION`` contains a version from ``project(... VERSION A.b.p.t ...)`` in project level CMakeLists.txt file, its contents will be used as ``PROJECT_VER``.
   * Else, if the project is located inside a Git repository, the output of git description will be used.
   * Otherwise, ``PROJECT_VER`` will be "1".
 - ``EXTRA_PARTITION_SUBTYPES``: CMake list of extra partition subtypes. Each subtype description is a comma-separated string with ``type_name, subtype_name, numeric_value`` format. Components may add new subtypes by appending them to this list.
diff --git a/tools/cmake/project.cmake b/tools/cmake/project.cmake
index 290b468f4877..ea51cc1cc050 100644
--- a/tools/cmake/project.cmake
+++ b/tools/cmake/project.cmake
@@ -74,6 +74,8 @@ function(__project_get_revision var)
         if(EXISTS "${_project_path}/version.txt")
             file(STRINGS "${_project_path}/version.txt" PROJECT_VER)
             set_property(DIRECTORY APPEND PROPERTY CMAKE_CONFIGURE_DEPENDS "${_project_path}/version.txt")
+        elseif (NOT "${PROJECT_VERSION}" STREQUAL "")
+            set(PROJECT_VER ${PROJECT_VERSION})
         else()
             git_describe(PROJECT_VER_GIT "${_project_path}")
             if(PROJECT_VER_GIT)
@@ -445,8 +447,54 @@ macro(project project_name)
         endif()
     endif()
 
+    # handle LANGUAGES duplicates in the definition of project ARGV coming from top CMakeFile.txt
+    # LANGUAGES usually to be last topic in ARGV list, so we simply kill all the parts we also specify,
+    # and append the remainder
+
+    set(extra_project_args "LANGUAGES;C;CXX;ASM")
+
+    set(LANGUAGES_pos -1)
+    string(FIND "${ARGV}" "LANGUAGES" LANGUAGES_pos)
+    if (LANGUAGES_pos GREATER 0)
+        # LANGUAGES definition from the project level CMakeLists.txt exists, split ARGV at that position
+
+        string(SUBSTRING "${ARGV}" 0 ${LANGUAGES_pos} ARGV_prefix)
+        string(SUBSTRING "${ARGV}" ${LANGUAGES_pos} -1 ARGV_languages)
+        # ARGV_languages contains "LANGUAGES;X;Y;Z now and anything following it"
+        # just remove the languages we want to default set here via ${extra_project_args}
+
+        # ;C is tricky
+        # as it also conflicts with CSharp, CXX etc..
+        # replace ';C;' with ';' covers most cases, remove ';C' at the end covers a special case.
+        # unhandled caveat: removeing ';C' could
+        # also remove from a DESCRITION or any other following part, but unlikely enough
+        string(REPLACE ";C;" ";" ARGV_languages "${ARGV_languages}")
+        string(LENGTH "${ARGV_languages}" _ARGV_languages_len)
+        math(EXPR _C_end_pos "${_ARGV_languages_len} - 2" OUTPUT_FORMAT DECIMAL)
+        string(FIND "${ARGV_languages}" ";C" _C_pos REVERSE) #special case ;C at the end
+        if( _C_pos GREATER_EQUAL _C_end_pos )
+            # C; present at the end
+            string(REPLACE ";C" "" ARGV_languages "${ARGV_languages}")
+        endif()
+
+        # ;CXX is unique enough
+        string(REPLACE ";CXX" "" ARGV_languages "${ARGV_languages}")
+
+        # ;ASM is unique enough
+        string(REPLACE ";ASM" "" ARGV_languages "${ARGV_languages}")
+
+        #last, remove the LANGUAGES keyword, which we specify ourselves, leave ; , might already be gone
+        string(REPLACE "LANGUAGES;" "" ARGV_languages "${ARGV_languages}")
+        string(REPLACE "LANGUAGES" "" ARGV_languages "${ARGV_languages}")
+
+        set(ARGV_project "${ARGV_prefix};${extra_project_args};${ARGV_languages}")
+    else()
+        # no LANGUAGES definition from the project level CMakeList.txt
+        set(ARGV_project "${ARGV};${extra_project_args}")
+    endif()
+
     # The actual call to project()
-    __project(${project_name} C CXX ASM)
+    __project(${ARGV_project})
 
     # Generate compile_commands.json (needs to come after project call).
     set(CMAKE_EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS ON)
@@ -502,7 +550,7 @@ macro(project project_name)
     #
     # PROJECT_NAME is taken from the passed name from project() call
     # PROJECT_DIR is set to the current directory
-    # PROJECT_VER is from the version text or git revision of the current repo
+    # PROJECT_VER is from the version text or the CMakeLists.txt or git revision of the current repo
 
     # SDKCONFIG_DEFAULTS environment variable may specify a file name relative to the root of the project.
     # When building the bootloader, ignore this variable, since: