diff --git a/build.sh b/build.sh
index 34e4b115..f790077e 100755
--- a/build.sh
+++ b/build.sh
@@ -3,10 +3,16 @@
 # Put installed packages into ./bin
 export GOBIN=$PWD/`dirname $0`/bin
 
-export BRANCH=`(git symbolic-ref --short HEAD | cut -d'/' -f 3 )|| ""`
-export BUILD=`git rev-parse --short HEAD || ""`
+if [ -d ".git" ] 
+then
+    export BUILD=`git rev-parse --short HEAD || ""`
+    export BRANCH=`(git symbolic-ref --short HEAD | tr -d \/ ) || ""`
+    [[ $BRANCH == "master" ]] && export BRANCH=""
 
-export FLAGS="-X github.com/matrix-org/dendrite/internal.branch=$BRANCH -X github.com/matrix-org/dendrite/internal.build=$BUILD"
+    export FLAGS="-X github.com/matrix-org/dendrite/internal.branch=$BRANCH -X github.com/matrix-org/dendrite/internal.build=$BUILD"
+else
+    export FLAGS=""
+fi
 
 go install -trimpath -ldflags "$FLAGS" -v $PWD/`dirname $0`/cmd/...
 
diff --git a/internal/version.go b/internal/version.go
index 851a0938..718273e7 100644
--- a/internal/version.go
+++ b/internal/version.go
@@ -12,10 +12,11 @@ const (
 	VersionMajor = 0
 	VersionMinor = 0
 	VersionPatch = 0
+	VersionTag   = "" // example: "rc1"
 )
 
 func VersionString() string {
-	version := fmt.Sprintf("%d.%d.%d", VersionMajor, VersionMinor, VersionPatch)
+	version := fmt.Sprintf("%d.%d.%d%s", VersionMajor, VersionMinor, VersionPatch, VersionTag)
 	if branch != "" {
 		version += fmt.Sprintf("-%s", branch)
 	}