diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index e8415bdda..d47cf82c2 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+DOKKU_VERSION = master
+
 SSHCOMMAND_URL ?= https://raw.github.com/progrium/sshcommand/master/sshcommand
 PLUGINHOOK_URL ?= https://s3.amazonaws.com/progrium-pluginhook/pluginhook_0.1.0_amd64.deb
 STACK_URL ?= github.com/progrium/buildstep
@@ -17,7 +19,7 @@ copyfiles:
 	cp -r plugins/* /var/lib/dokku/plugins
 
 version:
-	git describe --tags > ${DOKKU_ROOT}/VERSION
+	git describe --tags > ${DOKKU_ROOT}/VERSION  2> /dev/null || echo '~${DOKKU_VERSION}' > ${DOKKU_ROOT}/VERSION
 
 plugins: pluginhook docker
 	dokku plugins-install