diff --git a/share/genbuild.sh b/share/genbuild.sh
index e1062bafe..b3f9d250a 100755
--- a/share/genbuild.sh
+++ b/share/genbuild.sh
@@ -25,7 +25,11 @@ if [ -e "$(which git 2>/dev/null)" -a "$(git rev-parse --is-inside-work-tree 2>/
     # if latest commit is tagged and not dirty, then override using the tag name - suspect
     DESC=$(git describe 2>/dev/null)
     RAWDESC=$(git describe --abbrev=0 2>/dev/null)
-    git diff-index --quiet HEAD -- || DESC="$DESC-dirty"
+    if git diff-index --quiet HEAD; then
+	 DESC="$DESC-dirty"
+    else:
+	DESC="$DESC"
+    fi
 
     # get a string like "2012-04-10 16:27:19 +0200"
     LAST_COMMIT_DATE="$(git log -n 1 --format="%ci")"