diff --git a/src/Makefile.housekeeping b/src/Makefile.housekeeping
index 33283b18..f7755369 100644
--- a/src/Makefile.housekeeping
+++ b/src/Makefile.housekeeping
@@ -705,8 +705,10 @@ CFLAGS_version += -DVERSION_MAJOR=$(VERSION_MAJOR) \
 		  -DVERSION="\"$(VERSION)\""
 # Make sure the version number gets updated on every git checkout
 ifneq ($(GITVERSION),)
+ifneq ($(wildcard ../.git/index),)
 $(BIN)/version.o : ../.git/index
 endif
+endif
 
 # We automatically generate rules for any file mentioned in AUTO_SRCS
 # using the following set of templates.  We use $(eval ...) if