@@ -70,11 +70,12 @@ def get_version_from_git():

         return

     # git describe --first-parent does not take into account tags from branches

-    # that were merged-in.

+    # that were merged-in. The '--long' flag gets us the 'dev' version and

+    # git hash, '--always' returns the git hash even if there are no tags.

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

         try:

             p = subprocess.Popen(

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

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

                 cwd=distr_root,

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

         except OSError:

@@ -83,9 +84,20 @@ def get_version_from_git():

             break

     else:

         return

-    description = p.communicate()[0].decode().strip('v').rstrip('\n')

-    release, dev, git = description.rsplit('-', 2)

+    description = (p.communicate()[0]

+        .decode()

+        .strip('v')  # Tags can have a leading 'v', but the version should not

+        .rstrip('\n')

+        .rsplit('-', 2))  # Split the latest tag, commits since tag, and hash

+

+    try:

+        release, dev, git = description

+    except ValueError:  # No tags, only the git hash

+        git, = description

+        release = 'unknown'

+        dev = None

+

     labels = []

     if dev == "0":

         dev = None