diff --git a/base/version.jl b/base/version.jl
index 219d1e08c6774..6bdb1822e35c5 100644
--- a/base/version.jl
+++ b/base/version.jl
@@ -208,13 +208,13 @@ A `VersionNumber` object describing which version of Julia is in use. For detail
 const VERSION = try
     ver = convert(VersionNumber, VERSION_STRING)
     if !isempty(ver.prerelease)
-        build_number = GIT_VERSION_INFO.build_number
-        if ver == v"0.5.0-pre"
-            # due to change of reference for counting commits from last tag to last change of VERSION file
-            build_number += 5578
+        if GIT_VERSION_INFO.build_number >= 0
+            ver = VersionNumber(ver.major, ver.minor, ver.patch, (ver.prerelease..., GIT_VERSION_INFO.build_number), ver.build)
+        else
+            println("WARNING: no build number found for pre-release version")
+            ver = VersionNumber(ver.major, ver.minor, ver.patch, (ver.prerelease..., "unknown"), ver.build)
         end
-        ver = VersionNumber(ver.major, ver.minor, ver.patch, ver.prerelease, (build_number,))
-    elseif GIT_VERSION_INFO.build_number != 0
+    elseif GIT_VERSION_INFO.build_number > 0
         println("WARNING: ignoring non-zero build number for VERSION")
     end
     ver
diff --git a/base/version_git.sh b/base/version_git.sh
index ebcd0965a7587..110ef86ee0d9b 100644
--- a/base/version_git.sh
+++ b/base/version_git.sh
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ fork_master_timestamp=$(git show -s $(git merge-base HEAD $(echo $origin)master)
 
 # Check for errrors and emit default value for missing numbers.
 if [ -z "$build_number" ]; then
-    build_number="0"
+    build_number="-1"
 fi
 if [ -z "$fork_master_distance" ]; then
     fork_master_distance="-1"