--- a/genver.sh
+++ b/genver.sh
@@ -7,7 +7,20 @@
 	QUIET=0
 fi
 
-if ! `(git status | grep -q "On branch") 2> /dev/null`; then
+if [ -d "$(realpath "$0" | sed -e 's,/[^/]*$,,')/.git" ]; then
+	if head=`git rev-parse --verify HEAD 2>/dev/null`; then
+		# generate the version info based on the tag
+		release=`(git describe --tags || git --describe || git describe --all --long) \
+			2>/dev/null | tr -d '\n'`
+
+		# Are there uncommitted changes?
+		git update-index --refresh --unmerged > /dev/null
+		if git diff-index --name-only HEAD | grep -v "^scripts/package" \
+		    | read dummy; then
+			release="$release-dirty"
+		fi
+	fi
+else
         # If we don't have git, we can't work out what
         # version this is. It must have been downloaded as a
         # zip file. 
@@ -25,18 +38,6 @@
         fi
 fi
 
-if head=`git rev-parse --verify HEAD 2>/dev/null`; then
-	# generate the version info based on the tag
-	release=`(git describe --tags || git --describe || git describe --all --long) \
-		2>/dev/null | tr -d '\n'`
-
-	# Are there uncommitted changes?
-	git update-index --refresh --unmerged > /dev/null
-	if git diff-index --name-only HEAD | grep -v "^scripts/package" \
-	    | read dummy; then
-		release="$release-dirty"
-	fi
-fi
 
 
 if [ $QUIET -ne 1 ]; then