diff --git a/package_version.sh b/package_version.sh
index 385003cd9..865a89980 100755
--- a/package_version.sh
+++ b/package_version.sh
@@ -21,15 +21,15 @@
 
 if [ -d .git ]; then
     #  Retrieve the version from the last git tag.
-    VER=$(git describe --always | sed -e "s:v::")
-    if [ x"$(git diff-index --name-only HEAD)" != x ]; then
+    VER=`git describe --always | sed -e "s:v::"`
+    if [ x"`git diff-index --name-only HEAD`" != x ]; then
         #  If the sources have been changed locally, add -dirty to the version.
         VER="${VER}-dirty"
     fi
 elif [ -f .version ]; then
     #  If git is not available (e.g. when building from source package)
     #  we can extract the package version from .version file.
-    VER=$(< .version)
+    VER=`< .version`
 else
     #  The package version cannot be retrieved.
     VER="Unknown"