diff --git a/pz b/pz
index c8f2762..9c69165 100755
--- a/pz
+++ b/pz
@@ -44,7 +44,8 @@ fi
 
 setx name=basename -- "$projdir"
 setx branch=git rev-parse --short HEAD 2>/dev/null
-setx version=pver --show --allow-empty --add-metadata "$branch"
+setx version=pver --show --allow-empty
+[ -n "$version" ] && setx version=pver --show --string "$version" --add-metadata "$branch"
 [ -n "$version" ] || version="+$branch"
 dest="$destdir/$name${version:+-$version}.tgz"