diff --git a/.forgejo/actions/build-release/action.yml b/.forgejo/actions/build-release/action.yml
index 6773a8c109..ad9818e9f0 100644
--- a/.forgejo/actions/build-release/action.yml
+++ b/.forgejo/actions/build-release/action.yml
@@ -129,6 +129,14 @@ runs:
           docker create --platform $platform --name forgejo-$arch ${{ steps.registry.outputs.host-port }}/${{ inputs.owner }}/${{ inputs.repository }}:${{ inputs.tag-version }}${{ inputs.suffix }}
           binary="${{ inputs.binary-name }}-${{ inputs.tag-version }}-linux"
           docker cp forgejo-$arch:${{ inputs.binary-path }} $binary-$arch
+          chmod +x $binary-$arch
+          # the displayed version is converted with - sometime changed into +, deal with it
+          pattern=$(echo "${{ inputs.tag-version }}" | tr - .)
+          if ! ./$binary-$arch --version | grep "$pattern" ; then
+            echo "ERROR: expected version pattern $pattern not found in the output of $binary-$arch --version"
+            ./$binary-$arch --version
+            exit 1
+          fi
           xz --keep -9 $binary-$arch
           shasum -a 256 $binary-$arch > $binary-$arch.sha256
           shasum -a 256 $binary-$arch.xz > $binary-$arch.xz.sha256
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index deb5b91a8b..23e8caa3ef 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -79,28 +79,8 @@ endif
 STORED_VERSION_FILE := VERSION
 HUGO_VERSION ?= 0.111.3
 
-ifneq ($(GITHUB_REF_TYPE),branch)
-	VERSION ?= $(subst v,,$(GITHUB_REF_NAME))
-	GITEA_VERSION ?= $(GITHUB_REF_NAME)
-else
-	ifneq ($(GITHUB_REF_NAME),)
-		VERSION ?= $(subst release/v,,$(GITHUB_REF_NAME))
-	else
-		VERSION ?= main
-	endif
-
-	STORED_VERSION=$(shell cat $(STORED_VERSION_FILE) 2>/dev/null)
-	ifneq ($(STORED_VERSION),)
-		GITEA_VERSION ?= $(STORED_VERSION)
-	else
-		GITEA_VERSION ?= $(shell git describe --tags --always | sed 's/-/+/' | sed 's/^v//')
-	endif
-endif
-
-# if version = "main" then update version to "nightly"
-ifeq ($(VERSION),main)
-	VERSION := main-nightly
-endif
+GITEA_VERSION ?= $(shell git describe --tags --always | sed 's/-/+/' | sed 's/^v//')
+VERSION = ${GITEA_VERSION}
 
 LDFLAGS := $(LDFLAGS) -X "main.MakeVersion=$(MAKE_VERSION)" -X "main.Version=$(GITEA_VERSION)" -X "main.Tags=$(TAGS)"