diff --git a/amiga/package-amiga.sh b/amiga/package-amiga.sh
index ac72155..cc05187 100755
--- a/amiga/package-amiga.sh
+++ b/amiga/package-amiga.sh
@@ -34,14 +34,16 @@ rm -rf "$_lha_probe"
 # OS gets staged under its own directory.
 rm -rf "$DIST"; mkdir -p "$STAGE/json-c"
 
-# Extract the version from either a release tag, or the dev version + abbreviated commit hash
-GIT_DESCR=$(git describe --tags --always)
-if [[ "$GIT_DESCR" == json-c-* ]] ; then
+# Extract the version from either a release tag, or the dev version + abbreviated commit hash.
+# Only use a tag when HEAD is exactly on it: release tags live on release
+# branches, so the nearest *reachable* tag is often an old release.
+GIT_TAG=$(git describe --tags --exact-match 2>/dev/null)
+if [[ "$GIT_TAG" == json-c-* ]] ; then
   # e.g. 0.19-20260627
-  JSON_C_VERS=${GIT_DESCR#json-c-}
+  JSON_C_VERS=${GIT_TAG#json-c-}
 else
   # e.g. 0.19.99-09e45f6
-  JSON_C_VERS=$(sed -ne'/define JSON_C_VERSION / { s/"$//;  s/.*"//; p }' "${ROOT}/json_c_version.h")-${GIT_DESCR}
+  JSON_C_VERS=$(sed -ne'/define JSON_C_VERSION / { s/"$//;  s/.*"//; p; }' "${ROOT}/json_c_version.h")-$(git rev-parse --short HEAD)
 fi
 sed -e"s/VERSION/${JSON_C_VERS}/" "$AMIGA_DIR/json-c.readme.template" > "$STAGE/json-c/json-c.readme"