diff --git a/GIT-VERSION-GEN b/GIT-VERSION-GEN
index f2af817fea..b8b683b933 100755
--- a/GIT-VERSION-GEN
+++ b/GIT-VERSION-GEN
@@ -39,13 +39,9 @@ then
 			test -d "${GIT_DIR:-.git}" ||
 			test -f "$SOURCE_DIR"/.git;
 		} &&
-		VN=$(git -C "$SOURCE_DIR" describe --match "v[0-9]*" HEAD 2>/dev/null) &&
+		VN=$(git -C "$SOURCE_DIR" describe --dirty --match="v[0-9]*" 2>/dev/null) &&
 		case "$VN" in
 		*$LF*) (exit 1) ;;
-		v[0-9]*)
-			git -C "$SOURCE_DIR" update-index -q --refresh
-			test -z "$(git -C "$SOURCE_DIR" diff-index --name-only HEAD --)" ||
-			VN="$VN-dirty" ;;
 		esac
 	then
 		VN=$(echo "$VN" | sed -e 's/-/./g');