diff --git a/tools/version.sh b/tools/version.sh
index 8df33e175..1293d1578 100755
--- a/tools/version.sh
+++ b/tools/version.sh
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ srcdir="$2"
 
 # If no git repo try to read from the existing git_version.h, for building from tarballs
 version_h_path="${builddir}/git_version.h"
-if ! test -d "${srcdir}/.git"; then
   if test -f "${version_h_path}"; then
     while read line; do
       set -- $line
@@ -19,7 +18,6 @@ if ! test -d "${srcdir}/.git"; then
     echo "git repo not found and no cached git_version.h"
     exit 2
   fi
-fi
 osx_bundle_sed_path="${builddir}/osx-bundle.sed"
 
 last_svn_revision=6962