diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-nightly.yml b/.github/workflows/release-nightly.yml
index 71ec6dae84..1868673f17 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-nightly.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-nightly.yml
@@ -55,6 +55,9 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v3
+      # fetch all commits instead of only the last as some branches are long lived and could have many between versions
+      # fetch all tags to ensure that "git describe" reports expected Gitea version, eg. v1.21.0-dev-1-g1234567
+      - run: git fetch --unshallow --quiet --tags --force
       - uses: docker/setup-qemu-action@v2
       - uses: docker/setup-buildx-action@v2
       - name: Get cleaned branch name
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 3a1887fba1..ecd7a2d80c 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -79,6 +79,9 @@ endif
 STORED_VERSION_FILE := VERSION
 HUGO_VERSION ?= 0.111.3
 
+GITHUB_REF_TYPE ?= branch
+GITHUB_REF_NAME ?= $(shell git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD)
+
 ifneq ($(GITHUB_REF_TYPE),branch)
 	VERSION ?= $(subst v,,$(GITHUB_REF_NAME))
 	GITEA_VERSION ?= $(GITHUB_REF_NAME)