diff --git a/site_scons/version.py b/site_scons/version.py
index 34566e3..99cee6b 100644
--- a/site_scons/version.py
+++ b/site_scons/version.py
@@ -1,52 +1,54 @@
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 
 # @file
 # @section LICENSE
 #
 # Copyright (©) 2016-2021 EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne),
 # Laboratory (LSMS - Laboratoire de Simulation en Mécanique des Solides)
 #
 # This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
 # it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as published
 # by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
 # (at your option) any later version.
 #
 # This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 # but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 # MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
 # GNU Affero General Public License for more details.
 #
 # You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License
 # along with this program.  If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 
 import subprocess
 import base64
 from zlib import compress
 
 
 def git(*args):
     """Run a git command"""
-    try:
-        return bytes(subprocess.check_output(["git"] + list(args)))
-    except subprocess.CalledProcessError:
-        return bytes()
-
+    return bytes(subprocess.check_output(["git"] + list(args),
+                                         stderr=subprocess.STDOUT))
 
 def get_git_subst():
     """Get info about state of git repository"""
-    branch = git("rev-parse", "--abbrev-ref", "@")[:-1]
-    commit = git("rev-parse", branch)[:-1]
-    diff = git("diff", "@")
-    remotes = git('remote', '-v')
-
-    if remotes != "":
+    try:
+        branch = git("rev-parse", "--abbrev-ref", "HEAD")[:-1]
+        commit = git("rev-parse", branch)[:-1]
+        diff = git("diff", "HEAD")
+        remotes = git('remote', '-v')
+    except subprocess.CalledProcessError as err:
+        if b'not a git repository' in err.output:
+            print("Not in a git repository: skipping info gathering")
+        branch, commit, diff, remotes = [bytes()] * 4
+
+    if remotes != b"":
         remotes_string = remotes[:-1].decode().replace('\n', '\\\\n')
     else:
         remotes_string = '""'
 
     return {
         '@commit@': commit.decode(),
         '@branch@': branch.decode(),
         '@diff@': base64.b64encode(compress(diff, 9)).decode(),
         '@remotes@': remotes_string,
     }