diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d39ea83f0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+src/Makefile export-subst
diff --git a/src/Makefile b/src/Makefile
index ea72eb4bc..6748adf8b 100644
--- a/src/Makefile
+++ b/src/Makefile
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ CC_WIN_64                := x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc
 ##
 
 COMPTIME                 := $(shell date +%s)
-VERSION_TAG              := $(shell git describe --tags --dirty=+)
+VERSION_TAG              := $(shell git describe --tags --dirty=+ || echo '$Format:%D$'|sed -r 's/.* ([^ ]+$)/\1/')
 
 ##
 ## Compiler flags