diff --git a/build/gen-git-version.sh b/build/gen-git-version.sh
index bd5c8d5e..4fe07613 100755
--- a/build/gen-git-version.sh
+++ b/build/gen-git-version.sh
@@ -48,17 +48,17 @@ checksource ()
     # already a hash, abbreviate
     hash=`echo $hash | sed -e 's/\(......\).*/\1/'`
   fi
-  # detect -<number of changes>-g<hash> suffix added when tag is older than HEAD
-  if perl -e "exit !('$describe' =~ m/-[0-9]+-[0-9a-g]{8}\$/);"; then
-    # remove suffix to get tag (doesn't matter if we do not pick
-    # the most recent one)
-    exact=
-    tag=`echo $describe | sed -e 's/-[0123456789]*-g.*//'`
-  else
+  if git show-ref --tags | grep -q $hash; then
     # there is at least one tag matching HEAD;
     # pick the most recent one (based on lexical sorting)
     exact=1
     tag=`git show-ref --tags | grep $hash | sort | tail -1 | sed -e 's;.*refs/tags/;;'`
+  else
+    # Detect -<number of changes>-g<hash> suffix added when tag is older than HEAD.
+    # Remove suffix to get tag (doesn't matter if we do not pick
+    # the most recent one).
+    exact=
+    tag=`echo $describe | sed -e 's/-[0123456789]*-g.*//'`
   fi
   simpletag=$tag
   # Hyphens between numbers in the tag are dots in the version