diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index b120f74a44f1..a0da27bb2d65 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ smartstring = { version = "1" }
 multiversion = "0.7"
 either = "1.8"
 strum_macros = "0.25"
+version_check = "0.9.4"
 
 [workspace.dependencies.arrow]
 package = "arrow2"
diff --git a/crates/polars-arrow/Cargo.toml b/crates/polars-arrow/Cargo.toml
index ef42608fe1cc..e28b975a2977 100644
--- a/crates/polars-arrow/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/polars-arrow/Cargo.toml
@@ -21,6 +21,9 @@ polars-error = { version = "0.31.1", path = "../polars-error" }
 serde = { version = "1", features = ["derive"], optional = true }
 thiserror.workspace = true
 
+[build-dependencies]
+version_check = { workspace = true }
+
 [features]
 dtype-decimal = ["atoi", "ethnum"]
 dtype-array = []
diff --git a/crates/polars-arrow/build.rs b/crates/polars-arrow/build.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..3e4ab64620ac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/polars-arrow/build.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+fn main() {
+    println!("cargo:rerun-if-changed=build.rs");
+    let channel = version_check::Channel::read().unwrap();
+    if channel.is_nightly() {
+        println!("cargo:rustc-cfg=feature=\"nightly\"");
+    }
+}
diff --git a/crates/polars-core/Cargo.toml b/crates/polars-core/Cargo.toml
index 695ea1fc613e..2b5142eed89f 100644
--- a/crates/polars-core/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/polars-core/Cargo.toml
@@ -186,6 +186,9 @@ wasm-timer = "0.2.5"
 bincode = "1"
 serde_json = "1"
 
+[build-dependencies]
+version_check = { workspace = true }
+
 [package.metadata.docs.rs]
 # not all because arrow 4.3 does not compile with simd
 # all-features = true
diff --git a/crates/polars-core/build.rs b/crates/polars-core/build.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..3e4ab64620ac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/polars-core/build.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+fn main() {
+    println!("cargo:rerun-if-changed=build.rs");
+    let channel = version_check::Channel::read().unwrap();
+    if channel.is_nightly() {
+        println!("cargo:rustc-cfg=feature=\"nightly\"");
+    }
+}
diff --git a/crates/polars-lazy/Cargo.toml b/crates/polars-lazy/Cargo.toml
index fe0eb9e029c7..3f4794ffc1f0 100644
--- a/crates/polars-lazy/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/polars-lazy/Cargo.toml
@@ -30,6 +30,9 @@ pyo3 = { version = "0.19", optional = true }
 rayon.workspace = true
 smartstring.workspace = true
 
+[build-dependencies]
+version_check = { workspace = true }
+
 [features]
 nightly = ["polars-core/nightly", "polars-pipe/nightly", "polars-plan/nightly"]
 compile = ["polars-plan/compile"]
diff --git a/crates/polars-lazy/build.rs b/crates/polars-lazy/build.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..3e4ab64620ac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/polars-lazy/build.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+fn main() {
+    println!("cargo:rerun-if-changed=build.rs");
+    let channel = version_check::Channel::read().unwrap();
+    if channel.is_nightly() {
+        println!("cargo:rustc-cfg=feature=\"nightly\"");
+    }
+}
diff --git a/crates/polars-ops/Cargo.toml b/crates/polars-ops/Cargo.toml
index 9b3129326a61..b913c2051dd9 100644
--- a/crates/polars-ops/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/polars-ops/Cargo.toml
@@ -28,6 +28,9 @@ serde = { version = "1", features = ["derive"], optional = true }
 serde_json = { version = "1", optional = true }
 smartstring.workspace = true
 
+[build-dependencies]
+version_check = { workspace = true }
+
 [features]
 simd = ["argminmax/nightly_simd"]
 nightly = ["polars-utils/nightly"]
diff --git a/crates/polars-ops/build.rs b/crates/polars-ops/build.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..3e4ab64620ac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/polars-ops/build.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+fn main() {
+    println!("cargo:rerun-if-changed=build.rs");
+    let channel = version_check::Channel::read().unwrap();
+    if channel.is_nightly() {
+        println!("cargo:rustc-cfg=feature=\"nightly\"");
+    }
+}
diff --git a/crates/polars-pipe/Cargo.toml b/crates/polars-pipe/Cargo.toml
index 0770f40e5b8e..e2a0b690bb97 100644
--- a/crates/polars-pipe/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/polars-pipe/Cargo.toml
@@ -24,6 +24,9 @@ polars-utils = { version = "0.31.1", path = "../polars-utils", features = ["sysi
 rayon.workspace = true
 smartstring = { version = "1" }
 
+[build-dependencies]
+version_check = { workspace = true }
+
 [features]
 compile = ["crossbeam-channel", "crossbeam-queue"]
 csv = ["polars-plan/csv", "polars-io/csv"]
diff --git a/crates/polars-pipe/build.rs b/crates/polars-pipe/build.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..3e4ab64620ac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/polars-pipe/build.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+fn main() {
+    println!("cargo:rerun-if-changed=build.rs");
+    let channel = version_check::Channel::read().unwrap();
+    if channel.is_nightly() {
+        println!("cargo:rustc-cfg=feature=\"nightly\"");
+    }
+}
diff --git a/crates/polars-plan/Cargo.toml b/crates/polars-plan/Cargo.toml
index a741fd14ab34..d8667857f86b 100644
--- a/crates/polars-plan/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/polars-plan/Cargo.toml
@@ -32,6 +32,9 @@ serde = { version = "1", features = ["derive", "rc"], optional = true }
 smartstring.workspace = true
 strum_macros.workspace = true
 
+[build-dependencies]
+version_check = { workspace = true }
+
 [features]
 # debugging utility
 debugging = []
diff --git a/crates/polars-plan/build.rs b/crates/polars-plan/build.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..3e4ab64620ac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/polars-plan/build.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+fn main() {
+    println!("cargo:rerun-if-changed=build.rs");
+    let channel = version_check::Channel::read().unwrap();
+    if channel.is_nightly() {
+        println!("cargo:rustc-cfg=feature=\"nightly\"");
+    }
+}
diff --git a/crates/polars-utils/Cargo.toml b/crates/polars-utils/Cargo.toml
index 5b847234f4ec..3afd2589da71 100644
--- a/crates/polars-utils/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/polars-utils/Cargo.toml
@@ -18,6 +18,9 @@ rayon.workspace = true
 smartstring.workspace = true
 sysinfo = { version = "0.29", default-features = false, optional = true }
 
+[build-dependencies]
+version_check = { workspace = true }
+
 [features]
 bigidx = []
 nightly = []
diff --git a/crates/polars-utils/build.rs b/crates/polars-utils/build.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..3e4ab64620ac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/polars-utils/build.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+fn main() {
+    println!("cargo:rerun-if-changed=build.rs");
+    let channel = version_check::Channel::read().unwrap();
+    if channel.is_nightly() {
+        println!("cargo:rustc-cfg=feature=\"nightly\"");
+    }
+}
diff --git a/crates/polars/Cargo.toml b/crates/polars/Cargo.toml
index 4a5c0576aed1..0c097700b1cd 100644
--- a/crates/polars/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/polars/Cargo.toml
@@ -330,7 +330,7 @@ ahash = "0.8"
 rand = "0.8"
 
 [build-dependencies]
-version_check = "0.9.4"
+version_check = { workspace = true }
 
 [package.metadata.docs.rs]
 # all-features = true
diff --git a/py-polars/Cargo.lock b/py-polars/Cargo.lock
index ca1ef838c1df..7b0d0d23c9f7 100644
--- a/py-polars/Cargo.lock
+++ b/py-polars/Cargo.lock
@@ -1462,6 +1462,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "polars-error",
  "serde",
  "thiserror",
+ "version_check",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -1493,6 +1494,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "serde_json",
  "smartstring",
  "thiserror",
+ "version_check",
  "wasm-timer",
  "xxhash-rust",
 ]
@@ -1577,6 +1579,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "pyo3",
  "rayon",
  "smartstring",
+ "version_check",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -1600,6 +1603,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "serde",
  "serde_json",
  "smartstring",
+ "version_check",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -1620,6 +1624,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "polars-utils",
  "rayon",
  "smartstring",
+ "version_check",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -1644,6 +1649,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "serde",
  "smartstring",
  "strum_macros 0.25.1",
+ "version_check",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -1699,6 +1705,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "rayon",
  "smartstring",
  "sysinfo",
+ "version_check",
 ]
 
 [[package]]