diff --git a/libexec/rbenv---version b/libexec/rbenv---version
index 79cb64d8..1254a2fd 100755
--- a/libexec/rbenv---version
+++ b/libexec/rbenv---version
@@ -13,10 +13,14 @@ set -e
 [ -n "$RBENV_DEBUG" ] && set -x
 
 version="0.4.0"
+git_revision=""
 
-if cd "$RBENV_ROOT" 2>/dev/null; then
-  git_revision="$(git describe --tags HEAD 2>/dev/null || true)"
-  git_revision="${git_revision#v}"
-fi
+for source_dir in "${BASH_SOURCE%/*}" "$RBENV_ROOT"; do
+  if cd "$source_dir" 2>/dev/null && git remote -v 2>/dev/null | grep -q rbenv; then
+    git_revision="$(git describe --tags HEAD 2>/dev/null || true)"
+    git_revision="${git_revision#v}"
+    [ -z "$git_revision" ] || break
+  fi
+done
 
 echo "rbenv ${git_revision:-$version}"
diff --git a/test/--version.bats b/test/--version.bats
index 4e0e452d..9993e6dc 100644
--- a/test/--version.bats
+++ b/test/--version.bats
@@ -6,6 +6,18 @@ setup() {
   mkdir -p "$HOME"
   git config --global user.name  "Tester"
   git config --global user.email "tester@test.local"
+
+  mkdir -p "${RBENV_TEST_DIR}/bin"
+  cat > "${RBENV_TEST_DIR}/bin/git" <<CMD
+#!$BASH
+if [[ \$1 == remote && \$PWD != "\$RBENV_TEST_DIR"/* ]]; then
+  echo "not allowed" >&2
+  exit 1
+else
+  exec $(which git) "\$@"
+fi
+CMD
+  chmod +x "${RBENV_TEST_DIR}/bin/git"
 }
 
 git_commit() {
@@ -19,10 +31,25 @@ git_commit() {
   [[ $output == "rbenv 0."* ]]
 }
 
+@test "doesn't read version from non-rbenv repo" {
+  mkdir -p "$RBENV_ROOT"
+  cd "$RBENV_ROOT"
+  git init
+  git remote add origin https://github.com/homebrew/homebrew.git
+  git_commit
+  git tag v1.0
+
+  cd "$RBENV_TEST_DIR"
+  run rbenv---version
+  assert_success
+  [[ $output == "rbenv 0."* ]]
+}
+
 @test "reads version from git repo" {
   mkdir -p "$RBENV_ROOT"
   cd "$RBENV_ROOT"
   git init
+  git remote add origin https://github.com/sstephenson/rbenv.git
   git_commit
   git tag v0.4.1
   git_commit
@@ -38,6 +65,7 @@ git_commit() {
   mkdir -p "$RBENV_ROOT"
   cd "$RBENV_ROOT"
   git init
+  git remote add origin https://github.com/sstephenson/rbenv.git
   git_commit
 
   cd "$RBENV_TEST_DIR"