diff --git a/git-version b/git-version
index b74c8ce5f7..5e796c4e41 100755
--- a/git-version
+++ b/git-version
@@ -8,8 +8,8 @@ VERSION=$(git rev-parse HEAD)
 # check if the current commit has a matching tag,
 # and prepend the matching tag to the version, if available.
 TAG=$(git describe --exact-match --abbrev=0 --tags ${VERSION} 2> /dev/null || true)
-if [ -z "$TAG" ]; then
-	VERSION=$TAG_$VERSION
+if [ ! -z "$TAG" ]; then
+	VERSION=${TAG}_${VERSION}
 fi
 
 # check for changed files (not untracked files)
diff --git a/installer/scripts/release/common.env.sh b/installer/scripts/release/common.env.sh
index 7004d045cd..adad6c0829 100644
--- a/installer/scripts/release/common.env.sh
+++ b/installer/scripts/release/common.env.sh
@@ -6,8 +6,7 @@ REPOSITORY_ROOT="$ROOT/.."
 WORKSPACE_DIR="$ROOT/.workspace"
 TMP_DIR="$WORKSPACE_DIR/tmpdir"
 
-VERSION=$("$REPOSITORY_ROOT/git-version")
-export VERSION
+export VERSION=${VERSION:-$("$REPOSITORY_ROOT/git-version")}
 
 export TECTONIC_RELEASE_BUCKET=releases.tectonic.com
 export TECTONIC_BINARY_BUCKET=tectonic-release
diff --git a/installer/scripts/release/make_github_release.sh b/installer/scripts/release/make_github_release.sh
index 0ab564cb14..e315872951 100755
--- a/installer/scripts/release/make_github_release.sh
+++ b/installer/scripts/release/make_github_release.sh
@@ -13,10 +13,10 @@ source "$DIR/common.env.sh"
 GITHUB_API_URL="https://api.github.com/repos/coreos/tectonic-installer/releases"
 
 # shellcheck disable=SC2028
-echo "Creating new release on GitHub ${#GITHUB_CREDENTIALS} \n\n {\"tag_name\":\"$VERSION\",\"prerelease\":$PRE_RELEASE,\"body\":\"Release tarball is available at $TECTONIC_RELEASE_TARBALL_URL.\"}"
+echo "Creating new release on GitHub ${#GITHUB_CREDENTIALS} \n\n {\"tag_name\":\"$VERSION\", \"name\": \"$VERSION\", \"prerelease\":$PRE_RELEASE,\"body\":\"Release tarball is available at $TECTONIC_RELEASE_TARBALL_URL.\"}"
 curl \
     --fail \
     -u "$GITHUB_CREDENTIALS" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-    -d "{\"tag_name\":\"$VERSION\",\"prerelease\":$PRE_RELEASE,\"body\":\"Release tarball is available at $TECTONIC_RELEASE_TARBALL_URL.\"}" \
+    -d "{\"tag_name\":\"$VERSION\",\"name\": \"$VERSION\",\"prerelease\":$PRE_RELEASE,\"body\":\"Release tarball is available at $TECTONIC_RELEASE_TARBALL_URL.\"}" \
     $GITHUB_API_URL