diff --git a/.github/workflows/GnuTests.yml b/.github/workflows/GnuTests.yml
index 55c57080821..4a1d62215b8 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/GnuTests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/GnuTests.yml
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ jobs:
     - name: Extract GNU version from build-gnu.sh
       id: gnu-version
       run: |
-        GNU_VERSION=$(grep '^release_tag_GNU=' uutils/util/build-gnu.sh | cut -d'"' -f2)
+        GNU_VERSION=$(grep '^release_tag_GNU_default=' uutils/util/build-gnu.sh | cut -d'"' -f2)
         if [ -z "$GNU_VERSION" ]; then
           echo "Error: Failed to extract GNU version from build-gnu.sh"
           exit 1
@@ -180,7 +180,7 @@ jobs:
     - name: Extract GNU version from build-gnu.sh
       id: gnu-version-selinux
       run: |
-        GNU_VERSION=$(grep '^release_tag_GNU=' uutils/util/build-gnu.sh | cut -d'"' -f2)
+        GNU_VERSION=$(grep '^release_tag_GNU_default=' uutils/util/build-gnu.sh | cut -d'"' -f2)
         if [ -z "$GNU_VERSION" ]; then
           echo "Error: Failed to extract GNU version from build-gnu.sh"
           exit 1
diff --git a/util/build-gnu.sh b/util/build-gnu.sh
index 532e905929d..3b5fa1d3c93 100755
--- a/util/build-gnu.sh
+++ b/util/build-gnu.sh
@@ -34,7 +34,9 @@ path_GNU="$("${READLINK}" -fm -- "${path_GNU:-${path_UUTILS}/../gnu}")"
 
 ###
 
-release_tag_GNU="v9.9"
+# Allow to run with any tags and commits
+release_tag_GNU_default="v9.9"
+: ${release_tag_GNU:="${release_tag_GNU_default}"}
 
 # check if the GNU coreutils has been cloned, if not print instructions
 # note: the ${path_GNU} might already exist, so we check for the .git directory
@@ -45,7 +47,7 @@ if test ! -d "${path_GNU}/.git"; then
     echo "Afterwards, checkout the latest release tag:"
     echo "  cd \"${path_GNU}\""
     echo "  git fetch --all --tags"
-    echo "  git checkout tags/${release_tag_GNU}"
+    echo "  git checkout ${release_tag_GNU}"
     exit 1
 fi