diff --git a/tools/version.sh b/tools/version.sh
index 2ebf70fa..ff6ba34a 100755
--- a/tools/version.sh
+++ b/tools/version.sh
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 # Sorry about the Debian nonsense in here but the build system doesn't
 # patch the file early enough and overriding it is a PITA
-if test -s debian/changelog ; then
+if test -s debian/changelog && which dpkg-parsechangelog >/dev/null ; then
     dpkg-parsechangelog -SVersion | sed -e 's/.*://' -e 's/-.*//'
     exit
 fi