diff --git a/M2/configure.ac b/M2/configure.ac
index bd5fe56e47..a8bdc4ba79 100644
--- a/M2/configure.ac
+++ b/M2/configure.ac
@@ -504,10 +504,8 @@ case $COMPRESS in
     *) AC_MSG_ERROR(unrecognized option for enable-compress) ;;
 esac
 
-AC_SUBST([GIT_DESCRIPTION],
-         [`$GIT describe --tags --dirty || echo release-$PACKAGE_VERSION`])
-AC_SUBST([GIT_BRANCH],
-         [`$GIT branch --show-current`])
+AC_SUBST([GIT_DESCRIPTION], [release-1.24.11])
+AC_SUBST([GIT_BRANCH], [master])
 
 AC_SUBST(DEB,no)
 AC_ARG_ENABLE(deb,  AS_HELP_STRING(--enable-deb,prepare a *.deb package (for debian, ubuntu, ...)), DEB=$enableval)