diff --git a/src/Makefile b/src/Makefile
index 826f1e44..6d6f750f 100644
--- a/src/Makefile
+++ b/src/Makefile
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ SUBDIRS = \
 # Get the GIT HEAD ID if possible
 ifdef GIT
 GITDESC  = $(shell $(GIT) --git-dir=$(top_srcdir)/.git rev-parse HEAD 2>/dev/null)
-WTDIRTY  = $(shell $(GIT) --git-dir=$(top_srcdir)/.git diff-index HEAD 2>/dev/null)
+WTDIRTY  = $(shell cd "$(top_srcdir)" && $(GIT) diff-index HEAD 2>/dev/null)
 BUILD_ID = $(subst elinks-,,$(GITDESC))$(if $(WTDIRTY),-dirty)
 endif
 INCLUDES += -DBUILD_ID="\"$(BUILD_ID)\""