diff --git a/include/gluon.mk b/include/gluon.mk
index 97d382d7dc0c5c03a1353ea5a2512c1502ff758e..34168d7a117b526a426cda9e006b87aaf5ab921e 100644
--- a/include/gluon.mk
+++ b/include/gluon.mk
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ $(GLUON_SITEDIR)/site.mk:
 -include $(GLUON_SITEDIR)/site.mk
 
 
-GLUON_CONFIG_VERSION := $(shell cd $(GLUON_SITEDIR) && git describe --always --dirty=.$$(stat -c %Y $(GLUON_SITEDIR)/site.conf))
+GLUON_CONFIG_VERSION := $(shell cd $(GLUON_SITEDIR) && git describe --always --dirty=.$$(stat -c %Y $(GLUON_SITEDIR)/site.conf) 2>/dev/null || stat -c %Y site.conf)
 export GLUON_CONFIG_VERSION
 
 define merge-lists