diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 3881cb4d..2d4896bd 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -4,7 +4,8 @@ dnl The package_version file will be automatically synced to the git revision
 dnl by the update_version script when configured in the repository, but will
 dnl remain constant in tarball releases unless it is manually edited.
 m4_define([CURRENT_VERSION],
-          m4_esyscmd([ if test -e package_version || ./update_version; then
+          m4_esyscmd([ ./update_version 2>/dev/null || true
+                       if test -e package_version; then
                            . ./package_version
                            printf "$PACKAGE_VERSION"
                        else