diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 4fb534f..d3f0f6b 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,10 +1,6 @@
 VERSION_FILE := VERSION.txt
 
-ifeq ($(wildcard $(VERSION_FILE)),)
-  $(shell bash ./generate_version.sh $VERSION_FILE)
-endif
-
-REX_VERSION := $(shell cat $(VERSION_FILE))
+REX_VERSION := $(shell bash ./generate_version.sh)
 RELEASE_NAME := rexforge_$(REX_VERSION)
 export REX_VERSION
 
@@ -24,7 +20,7 @@ release: $(RELEASE_NAME)
 	cp ./LICENSE.txt $(RELEASE_NAME)
 	cp ./README.md $(RELEASE_NAME)
 	mkdir -p $(RELEASE_NAME)/source
-	cp ./VERSION.txt $(RELEASE_NAME)/source
+	echo $(REX_VERSION) > $(RELEASE_NAME)/source/VERSION.txt
 	git ls-files | xargs -I{} cp --parents {} $(RELEASE_NAME)/source
 	date -I > $(RELEASE_NAME)/INFO.txt
 	echo $(REX_VERSION) >> $(RELEASE_NAME)/INFO.txt
diff --git a/generate_version.sh b/generate_version.sh
index 2832dc8..d27812c 100644
--- a/generate_version.sh
+++ b/generate_version.sh
@@ -1,22 +1,10 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
-if [ -z "$1" ]; then
-    echo "ERROR: No version file name provided. Usage: $0 <version_file>"
-    exit 1
-fi
-
-VERSION_FILE="$1"
-
 if git rev-parse --is-inside-work-tree >/dev/null 2>&1; then
     VERSION=$(git describe 2>/dev/null || git rev-parse --short HEAD || echo "v0.0.0-unknown")
     DIRTY=$(git diff-index --quiet HEAD -- || echo "-dirty")
     FULL_VERSION="${VERSION}${DIRTY}"
-    echo "$FULL_VERSION" >"$VERSION_FILE"
+    echo "$FULL_VERSION"
 else
-    if [ -f "$VERSION_FILE" ]; then
-        echo "INFO: $VERSION_FILE already exists. Please update it manually if needed."
-    else
-        echo "ERROR: Not in a Git repository, and $VERSION_FILE does not exist. Unable to generate version!"
-        exit 1
-    fi
+    cat ./VERSION.txt
 fi
diff --git a/rex_client/Makefile b/rex_client/Makefile
index 9ba41b8..2516ad5 100644
--- a/rex_client/Makefile
+++ b/rex_client/Makefile
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 NAME = rexclient
 
-VERSION_FILE := ../VERSION.txt
-REX_VERSION ?= $(shell cat $(VERSION_FILE))
+REX_VERSION ?= $(shell bash ../generate_version.sh)
 
 build: commit.txt
 	go build -tags no_emoji -trimpath -ldflags="-s -w -X main.rex_version=$(REX_VERSION)" -buildvcs=false -o $(NAME)
diff --git a/rex_server/Makefile b/rex_server/Makefile
index 5b8b298..a59874b 100644
--- a/rex_server/Makefile
+++ b/rex_server/Makefile
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 NAME = rexserver
 
-VERSION_FILE := ../VERSION.txt
-REX_VERSION ?= $(shell cat $(VERSION_FILE))
+REX_VERSION ?= $(shell bash ../generate_version.sh)
 
 build: commit.txt
 	go build -ldflags="-X main.rex_version=$(REX_VERSION)" -o $(NAME)