diff --git a/version.sh b/version.sh
index e79ad0ca89..45a529c54e 100755
--- a/version.sh
+++ b/version.sh
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ fi
 # or from "git describe" output
 git_revision=$(cat snapshot_version 2> /dev/null)
 test "$git_revision" || test ! -e .git || git_revision="$(git describe \
-    --match "v[0-9]*" --always --tags | sed 's/^v//')"
+    --match "v[0-9]*" --always --tags --dirty | sed 's/^v//')"
 version="$git_revision"
 
 # other tarballs extract the version number from the VERSION file