diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index cb75738f0..d6b8e3a9e 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@ conf.set('FWUPD_MICRO_VERSION', fwupd_micro_version)
 conf.set_quoted('PACKAGE_VERSION', fwupd_version)
 
 archiver = find_program('git', required : false)
-conf.set('FWUPD_GIT_DESCRIBE', 0)
 if archiver.found()
   result = run_command('git', 'describe')
   if result.returncode() == 0
diff --git a/src/fu-util.c b/src/fu-util.c
index f528842fb..bbccbd181 100644
--- a/src/fu-util.c
+++ b/src/fu-util.c
@@ -1796,8 +1796,9 @@ main (int argc, char *argv[])
 		}
 		g_print ("daemon version:\t%s\n",
 			 fwupd_client_get_daemon_version (priv->client));
-		if (FWUPD_GIT_DESCRIBE != 0)
-			g_print ("checkout info:\t%s\n", FWUPD_GIT_DESCRIBE);
+#ifdef FWUPD_GIT_DESCRIBE
+		g_print ("checkout info:\t%s\n", FWUPD_GIT_DESCRIBE);
+#endif
 		return EXIT_SUCCESS;
 	}