diff --git a/release/build_release3.sh b/release/build_release3.sh
index 966169340a..8c5b8b63b3 100755
--- a/release/build_release3.sh
+++ b/release/build_release3.sh
@@ -33,8 +33,8 @@ cd $BUILD_DIR
 
 rm -f panda/board/obj/panda.bin.signed
 
-VERSION=$(cat selfdrive/common/version.h | awk -F\" '{print $2}')
-echo "#define COMMA_VERSION \"$VERSION-$(git --git-dir=$SOURCE_DIR/.git rev-parse --short HEAD)-$(date '+%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S')\"" > selfdrive/common/version.h
+VERSION=$(cat selfdrive/common/version.h | awk -F[\"-]  '{print $2}')
+echo "#define COMMA_VERSION \"$VERSION-release\"" > selfdrive/common/version.h
 
 echo "[-] committing version $VERSION T=$SECONDS"
 git add -f .