diff --git a/src/maketools/update-version.sh b/src/maketools/update-version.sh
index 717ef392ec11b6247885198aee4bf207fb598f69..5f255a31d92b7507dd8b4b159babb43a597942e9 100755
--- a/src/maketools/update-version.sh
+++ b/src/maketools/update-version.sh
@@ -19,9 +19,9 @@ echo "#define PLUMED_VERSION_LONG \"$(
 
 echo "#define PLUMED_VERSION_GIT \"$(
   if test -d ../../.git && hash git 2> /dev/null ; then
-# describe --tags gives a nive name
+# describe --tags gives a nice name
 # in case it does not work, fallback to normal hash (12 char long)
-    git describe --tags || git rev-parse  --short=12 HEAD
+    git describe --long --tags --dirty --always || git rev-parse  --short=12 HEAD
   else
     echo "Unknown"
   fi