diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index aff6d531c..4c73e6ab7 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -10,8 +10,7 @@ GIT_BRANCH_CLEAN := $(shell echo $(GIT_BRANCH) | sed -e "s/[^[:alnum:]]/-/g")
 RUNC_IMAGE := runc_dev$(if $(GIT_BRANCH_CLEAN),:$(GIT_BRANCH_CLEAN))
 PROJECT := github.com/opencontainers/runc
 BUILDTAGS ?= seccomp
-COMMIT_NO := $(shell git rev-parse HEAD 2> /dev/null || true)
-COMMIT ?= $(if $(shell git status --porcelain --untracked-files=no),"$(COMMIT_NO)-dirty","$(COMMIT_NO)")
+COMMIT ?= $(shell git describe --dirty --long --always)
 VERSION := $(shell cat ./VERSION)
 
 # TODO: rm -mod=vendor once go 1.13 is unsupported