diff --git a/mk/targets.mk b/mk/targets.mk
index 4435daa91..0bd293d68 100644
--- a/mk/targets.mk
+++ b/mk/targets.mk
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ ifneq ($(wildcard .git),)
   # Use the org.el header.
   ORGVERSION := $(patsubst %-dev,%,$(shell $(BATCH) --eval "(require 'lisp-mnt)" \
     --visit lisp/org.el --eval '(princ (lm-header "version"))'))
-  GITVERSION ?= $(shell git describe --match release\* --abbrev=6 HEAD)
+  GITVERSION ?= $(shell git describe --match release\* --abbrev=6 HEAD 2>/dev/null || echo  "release_N/A-N/A-$(shell git describe --match release\* --abbrev=6 --always HEAD)")
   GITSTATUS  ?= $(shell git status -uno --porcelain)
 else
  -include mk/version.mk