diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 7049a53..8ec48ff 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -72,10 +72,10 @@ dist: distclean venv pip-requirements-dev
 		$(PYTHON) setup.py sdist; \
 		$(PYTHON) setup.py bdist_wheel --universal
 dist-upload: dist-check-version clean test dist-upload-twine
-dist-check-version: PKG_VER=v$(shell sed -n "s/^.*__version__\s*=\s*'\([^']\+\)'.*$$/\1/p" learnosity_sdk/_version.py)
+dist-check-version: PKG_VER=$(shell sed -n "s/^.*__version__\s*=\s*'\([^']\+\)'.*$$/\1/p" learnosity_sdk/_version.py)
 dist-check-version: GIT_TAG=$(shell git describe --tags)
 dist-check-version:
-ifeq ('$(shell echo $(GIT_TAG) | grep -qw "$(PKG_VER)")', '')
+ifeq ($(shell echo $(GIT_TAG) | grep -qw "$(PKG_VER)"; echo $$?),1)
 	$(error Version number $(PKG_VER) in learnosity_sdk/_version.py does not match git tag $(GIT_TAG))
 endif
 dist-upload-twine: venv pip-requirements-dev dist # This target doesn't do any safety check!