@@ -34,6 +34,18 @@ curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jbweston/miniver/master/install-miniver |

 ```

 This will grab the latest files from GitHub and set up Miniver for your project.

+### I get an `unknown` version!

+The version is reported as `unknown` (plus the current git hash) when there are no valid tags

+in the git history. You should create an [*annotated tag*](https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Git-Basics-Tagging)

+so that Miniver reports a reasonable version.

+

+If your project uses *unannotated tags* for versioning (though this is not the

+[recommended way](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/11514075/what-is-the-difference-between-an-annotated-and-unannotated-tag))

+then you'll need to run the following in order to modify Miniver's behaviour:

+```

+curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jbweston/miniver/master/unannotated-tags.patch | patch <your_package_directory>/_version.py

+```

+

 ### I don't want to type that URL every time I use this

 You can `pip install miniver`, which will give you the `install-miniver` script.

 Then you can simply run the following from your project root to use Miniver:

new file mode 100644

@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@

+Apply this patch to '_version.py' to get Miniver to calculate

+the version using unannotated tags in addition to annotated tags

+@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ def get_version_from_git():

+     for opts in [['--first-parent'], []]:

+         try:

+             p = subprocess.Popen(

+-                ['git', 'describe', '--long', '--always'] + opts,

++                ['git', 'describe', '--long', '--always', '--tags'] + opts,

+                 cwd=distr_root,

+                 stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.PIPE)

+         except OSError: