diff --git a/copy-firmware.sh b/copy-firmware.sh
index dcb3b92c..1a1094ae 100755
--- a/copy-firmware.sh
+++ b/copy-firmware.sh
@@ -65,8 +65,10 @@ if test -d "$destdir"; then
     find "$destdir" -type d -empty >/dev/null || warn "destination folder is not empty."
 fi
 
-$verbose "Checking that WHENCE file is formatted properly"
-./check_whence.py || err "check_whence.py has detected errors."
+if test -e .git/config; then
+    $verbose "Checking that WHENCE file is formatted properly"
+    ./check_whence.py || err "check_whence.py has detected errors."
+fi
 
 # shellcheck disable=SC2162 # file/folder name can include escaped symbols
 grep -E '^(RawFile|File):' WHENCE | sed -E -e 's/^(RawFile|File): */\1 /;s/"//g' | while read k f; do