--- genver.sh
+++ genver.sh
@@ -7,25 +7,23 @@
 	QUIET=0
 fi
 
+# If downloaded from the release page, the directory
+# has the version number.
+release=`pwd | sed s/.*sslh-// | grep "[[:digit:]]"`
+
+if [ "x$release" = "x" ]; then
 if ! `(git status | grep -q "On branch") 2> /dev/null`; then
         # If we don't have git, we can't work out what
         # version this is. It must have been downloaded as a
         # zip file. 
         
-        # If downloaded from the release page, the directory
-        # has the version number.
-        release=`pwd | sed s/.*sslh-// | grep "[[:digit:]]"`
         
-        if [ "x$release" = "x" ]; then
             # If downloaded from the head, Github creates the
             # zip file with all files dated from the last
             # change: use the Makefile's modification time as a
             # release number
             release=head-`perl -MPOSIX -e 'print strftime "%Y-%m-%d",localtime((stat "Makefile")[9])'`
-        fi
-fi
-
-if head=`git rev-parse --verify HEAD 2>/dev/null`; then
+else
 	# generate the version info based on the tag
 	release=`(git describe --tags || git --describe || git describe --all --long) \
 		2>/dev/null | tr -d '\n'`
@@ -37,6 +35,7 @@
 		release="$release-dirty"
 	fi
 fi
+fi
 
 
 if [ $QUIET -ne 1 ]; then