diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index 328ea30c7..ba5e3c828 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -15,9 +15,9 @@ import (
 	"github.com/urfave/cli"
 )
 
-// version will be populated by the Makefile, read from
-// VERSION file of the source code.
-var version = ""
+// version must be set from the contents of VERSION file by go build's
+// -X main.version= option in the Makefile.
+var version = "unknown"
 
 // gitCommit will be the hash that the binary was built from
 // and will be populated by the Makefile
@@ -55,10 +55,8 @@ func main() {
 	app.Name = "runc"
 	app.Usage = usage
 
-	var v []string
-	if version != "" {
-		v = append(v, version)
-	}
+	v := []string{version}
+
 	if gitCommit != "" {
 		v = append(v, "commit: "+gitCommit)
 	}