diff --git a/cmake/NestVersionInfo.cmake b/cmake/NestVersionInfo.cmake
index f100f64999..060c010b77 100644
--- a/cmake/NestVersionInfo.cmake
+++ b/cmake/NestVersionInfo.cmake
@@ -32,26 +32,29 @@
 
 
 macro(get_version_info)
-   execute_process(
-        COMMAND "git" "rev-parse" "--short" "HEAD"
-        OUTPUT_VARIABLE NEST_VERSION_GITHASH
-        OUTPUT_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE
-        WORKING_DIRECTORY "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}"
-    )
 
-    execute_process(
-        COMMAND "git" "rev-parse" "--abbrev-ref" "HEAD"
-        OUTPUT_VARIABLE NEST_VERSION_BRANCH
-        OUTPUT_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE
-        WORKING_DIRECTORY "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}"
-    )
+    if (EXISTS "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/.git")
+        execute_process(
+            COMMAND "git" "rev-parse" "--short" "HEAD"
+            OUTPUT_VARIABLE NEST_VERSION_GITHASH
+            OUTPUT_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE
+            WORKING_DIRECTORY "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}"
+        )
 
-    if (NEST_VERSION_SUFFIX)
-        set(versionsuffix "-${NEST_VERSION_SUFFIX}")
-    endif()
+        execute_process(
+            COMMAND "git" "rev-parse" "--abbrev-ref" "HEAD"
+            OUTPUT_VARIABLE NEST_VERSION_BRANCH
+            OUTPUT_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE
+            WORKING_DIRECTORY "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}"
+        )
+
+        if (NEST_VERSION_SUFFIX)
+            set(versionsuffix "-${NEST_VERSION_SUFFIX}")
+        endif()
 
-    if (NEST_VERSION_GITHASH)
-        set(githash "@${NEST_VERSION_GITHASH}")
+        if (NEST_VERSION_GITHASH)
+            set(githash "@${NEST_VERSION_GITHASH}")
+        endif()
     endif()
 
     if (NOT NEST_VERSION_BRANCH)