diff --git a/SConstruct b/SConstruct
index 894001569..abd406f31 100644
--- a/SConstruct
+++ b/SConstruct
@@ -717,7 +717,7 @@ env['cantera_short_version'] = '.'.join(str(x) for x in ctversion.version[:2])
 try:
     env['git_commit'] = getCommandOutput('git', 'rev-parse', '--short', 'HEAD')
 except Exception:
-    env['git_commit'] = '<unknown>'
+    env['git_commit'] = 'unknown'
 
 # Print values of all build options:
 print("Configuration variables read from 'cantera.conf' and command line:")