diff --git a/build/cmake/version.cmake b/build/cmake/version.cmake
index ab7f215..dd953a3 100644
--- a/build/cmake/version.cmake
+++ b/build/cmake/version.cmake
@@ -26,13 +26,19 @@
 if(EXISTS "${GIT_EXECUTABLE}")
   execute_process(COMMAND ${GIT_EXECUTABLE} --git-dir=${AOM_ROOT}/.git describe
                   OUTPUT_VARIABLE aom_version
-                  ERROR_QUIET)
-  string(STRIP "${aom_version}" aom_version)
+                  ERROR_QUIET
+                  RESULT_VARIABLE version_check_result)
 
-  # Remove the leading 'v' from the version string.
-  string(FIND "${aom_version}" "v" v_pos)
-  if(${v_pos} EQUAL 0)
-    string(SUBSTRING "${aom_version}" 1 -1 aom_version)
+  if(${version_check_result} EQUAL 0)
+    string(STRIP "${aom_version}" aom_version)
+
+    # Remove the leading 'v' from the version string.
+    string(FIND "${aom_version}" "v" v_pos)
+    if(${v_pos} EQUAL 0)
+      string(SUBSTRING "${aom_version}" 1 -1 aom_version)
+    endif()
+  else()
+    set(aom_version "")
   endif()
 endif()
 
@@ -41,17 +47,19 @@
 endif()
 
 unset(last_aom_version)
-if(EXISTS "${AOM_CONFIG_DIR}/config/aom_version.h")
-  extract_version_string("${AOM_CONFIG_DIR}/config/aom_version.h"
-                         last_aom_version)
+set(version_file "${AOM_CONFIG_DIR}/config/aom_version.h")
+if(EXISTS "${version_file}")
+  extract_version_string("${version_file}" last_aom_version)
+  if("${aom_version}" MATCHES "CHANGELOG$")
+    set(aom_version "${last_aom_version}")
+  endif()
 endif()
 
 if(NOT "${aom_version}" STREQUAL "${last_aom_version}")
-
   # TODO(tomfinegan): Perl dependency is unnecessary. CMake can do everything
-  # that is done by version.pl on its own (if a bit more verbose...).
-  execute_process(
-    COMMAND ${PERL_EXECUTABLE} "${AOM_ROOT}/build/cmake/version.pl"
-            --version_data=${aom_version}
-            --version_filename=${AOM_CONFIG_DIR}/config/aom_version.h VERBATIM)
+  # that is done by version.pl on its own (if a bit more verbosely...).
+  execute_process(COMMAND ${PERL_EXECUTABLE}
+                          "${AOM_ROOT}/build/cmake/version.pl"
+                          --version_data=${aom_version}
+                          --version_filename=${version_file} VERBATIM)
 endif()