diff --git a/bin/load-world.sh b/bin/load-world.sh
index 8b8c2ebee5f0287f48095ed10c78e318878f8c89..1aa89ba5f28edcf312503353d0dd571393ec3a41 100755
--- a/bin/load-world.sh
+++ b/bin/load-world.sh
@@ -11,8 +11,10 @@ usage()
 
 SKIP_PCL=
 NO_PCL_FEATURE=
-# Default version is the date with the git hash.
-GIT_HASH="`(cd src; git describe --dirty 2>/dev/null)`"
+# Default version is the date with the git hash.  Older versions of
+# git don't support --dirty, but the output in that case is what we
+# want (except for ending with "dirty"), so we're set.
+GIT_HASH="`(cd src; git describe --dirty 2>/dev/null || git describe 2>/dev/null)`"
 
 # If the git hash looks like a snapshot tag or release, don't add the date.
 VERSION="`date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'`${GIT_HASH:+ $GIT_HASH}"