diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index a59a8f1..1bbc4e6 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -373,7 +373,7 @@
 # Set the flashrom version string from the highest revision number of the checked out flashrom files.
 # Note to packagers: Any tree exported with "make export" or "make tarball"
 # will not require subversion. The downloadable snapshots are already exported.
-SVNVERSION := $(shell ./util/getrevision.sh -u)
+SVNVERSION := $(shell ./util/getrevision.sh -u 2>/dev/null )
 
 RELEASE := 0.9.7
 VERSION := $(RELEASE)-$(SVNVERSION)
@@ -381,6 +381,11 @@
 
 SVNDEF := -D'FLASHROM_VERSION="$(VERSION)"'
 
+# Inform user if there is no meaningful version string. If there is version information from a VCS print
+# something anyway because $(info...) will print a line break in any case which would look suspicious.
+$(info $(shell ./util/getrevision.sh -c 2>/dev/null || echo "Files don't seem to be under version control." ; \
+	echo "Replacing all version templates with $(VERSION)." ))
+
 ###############################################################################
 # Default settings of CONFIG_* variables.
 
@@ -992,7 +997,7 @@
 	@rm -f .featuretest.c .featuretest$(EXEC_SUFFIX)
 
 $(PROGRAM).8: $(PROGRAM).8.tmpl
-	@sed -e '1 s#".*".*#"$(shell ./util/getrevision.sh -d $(PROGRAM).8.tmpl)" "$(VERSION)"#' <$< >$@
+	@sed -e '1 s#".*".*#"$(shell ./util/getrevision.sh -d $(PROGRAM).8.tmpl 2>/dev/null)" "$(VERSION)"#' <$< >$@
 
 install: $(PROGRAM)$(EXEC_SUFFIX) $(PROGRAM).8
 	mkdir -p $(DESTDIR)$(PREFIX)/sbin