diff --git a/scripts/setlocalversion b/scripts/setlocalversion
index 1c1bdaf7348a..83b75126c9f7 100755
--- a/scripts/setlocalversion
+++ b/scripts/setlocalversion
@@ -12,7 +12,9 @@ cd "${1:-.}" || usage
 if head=`git rev-parse --verify HEAD 2>/dev/null`; then
 	# Do we have an untagged version?
 	if git name-rev --tags HEAD | grep -E '^HEAD[[:space:]]+(.*~[0-9]*|undefined)$' > /dev/null; then
-	        git describe | awk -F- '{printf("-%05d-%s", $(NF-1),$(NF))}'
+		if tag=`git describe 2>/dev/null`; then
+			echo $tag | awk -F- '{printf("-%05d-%s", $(NF-1),$(NF))}'
+		fi
 	fi
 
 	# Are there uncommitted changes?