diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 994c75aae..1d33ffb94 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR([m4])
 
 AC_DEFINE(PROTOCOL_VERSION, "0.20.0", [The MPD protocol version])
 
-GIT_COMMIT=`GIT_DIR="$srcdir/.git" git describe --dirty --always 2>/dev/null`
+GIT_COMMIT=`cd "$srcdir" && git describe --dirty --always 2>/dev/null`
 if test x$GIT_COMMIT != x; then
 	AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED(GIT_COMMIT, ["$GIT_COMMIT"], [The current git commit])
 fi