diff --git a/src/go/Makefile b/src/go/Makefile
index 7685c1ff..2b35ee85 100644
--- a/src/go/Makefile
+++ b/src/go/Makefile
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@ endif
 
 GO := go
 pkgs = $(shell find . -type d -name "pt-*" -exec basename {} \;)
+# VERSION ?=$(shell git describe --abbrev=0) doesn't always work here, need to use git log
+VERSION ?=$(shell git log --no-walk --tags --pretty="%H %d" --decorate=short | head -n1 | awk  -F'[, ]' '{ print $$4; }')
 BUILD=$(BUILD_DATE)
 GOVERSION=$(shell go version | cut --delimiter=" " -f3)
 GOUTILSDIR ?= $(GOPATH)/bin
diff --git a/src/go/pt-k8s-debug-collector/main.go b/src/go/pt-k8s-debug-collector/main.go
index 8121e1bc..c19a5e01 100644
--- a/src/go/pt-k8s-debug-collector/main.go
+++ b/src/go/pt-k8s-debug-collector/main.go
@@ -15,10 +15,10 @@ const (
 
 // We do not set anything here, these variables are defined by the Makefile
 var (
-	Build     string
-	GoVersion string
-	Version   string
-	Commit    string
+	Build     string //nolint
+	GoVersion string //nolint
+	Version   string //nolint
+	Commit    string //nolint
 )
 
 func main() {
diff --git a/src/go/pt-mongodb-index-check/main.go b/src/go/pt-mongodb-index-check/main.go
index 4d7b3a90..9cd722fb 100644
--- a/src/go/pt-mongodb-index-check/main.go
+++ b/src/go/pt-mongodb-index-check/main.go
@@ -45,11 +45,12 @@ const (
 	TOOLNAME = "pt-mongodb-index-check"
 )
 
+// We do not set anything here, these variables are defined by the Makefile
 var (
-	Build     string = "2020-04-23" //nolint
-	GoVersion string = "1.14.1"     //nolint
-	Version   string = "3.5.1"      //nolint
-	Commit    string                //nolint
+	Build     string //nolint
+	GoVersion string //nolint
+	Version   string //nolint
+	Commit    string //nolint
 )
 
 func main() {
diff --git a/src/go/pt-mongodb-query-digest/main.go b/src/go/pt-mongodb-query-digest/main.go
index 17587e7f..f5032f7f 100644
--- a/src/go/pt-mongodb-query-digest/main.go
+++ b/src/go/pt-mongodb-query-digest/main.go
@@ -38,11 +38,12 @@ const (
 	DEFAULT_SKIPCOLLECTIONS = "system.profile" // comma separated list
 )
 
+// We do not set anything here, these variables are defined by the Makefile
 var (
-	Build     string = "2020-04-23" //nolint
-	GoVersion string = "1.14.1"     //nolint
-	Version   string = "3.5.1"      //nolint
-	Commit    string                //nolint
+	Build     string //nolint
+	GoVersion string //nolint
+	Version   string //nolint
+	Commit    string //nolint
 )
 
 type cliOptions struct {
diff --git a/src/go/pt-mongodb-summary/main.go b/src/go/pt-mongodb-summary/main.go
index 35fe7f08..2c8349d2 100644
--- a/src/go/pt-mongodb-summary/main.go
+++ b/src/go/pt-mongodb-summary/main.go
@@ -55,10 +55,11 @@ const (
 
 //nolint:gochecknoglobals
 var (
-	Build     string = "2020-04-23"
-	GoVersion string = "1.14.1"
-	Version   string = "3.5.1"
-	Commit    string
+	// We do not set anything here, these variables are defined by the Makefile
+	Build     string //nolint
+	GoVersion string //nolint
+	Version   string //nolint
+	Commit    string //nolint
 
 	defaultConnectionTimeout = 3 * time.Second
 	directConnection         = true
diff --git a/src/go/pt-pg-summary/main.go b/src/go/pt-pg-summary/main.go
index 0ed491b6..979a10f1 100644
--- a/src/go/pt-pg-summary/main.go
+++ b/src/go/pt-pg-summary/main.go
@@ -17,11 +17,12 @@ import (
 	"github.com/percona/percona-toolkit/src/go/pt-pg-summary/templates"
 )
 
+// We do not set anything here, these variables are defined by the Makefile
 var (
-	Build     string = "2020-04-23" //nolint
-	Commit    string                //nolint
-	GoVersion string = "1.14.1"     //nolint
-	Version   string = "3.5.1"      //nolint
+	Build     string //nolint
+	GoVersion string //nolint
+	Version   string //nolint
+	Commit    string //nolint
 )
 
 type connOpts struct {
diff --git a/src/go/pt-secure-collect/Makefile b/src/go/pt-secure-collect/Makefile
index 864fd56d..a07f24e9 100644
--- a/src/go/pt-secure-collect/Makefile
+++ b/src/go/pt-secure-collect/Makefile
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 GO := go
 pkgs   = $(shell basename `git rev-parse --show-toplevel`)
-VERSION ?=$(shell git describe --abbrev=0)
+# VERSION ?=$(shell git describe --abbrev=0) doesn't always work here, need to use git log
+VERSION ?=$(shell git log --no-walk --tags --pretty="%H %d" --decorate=short | head -n1 | awk  -F'[, ]' '{ print $$4; }')
 BUILD ?=$(shell date +%FT%T%z)
 GOVERSION ?=$(shell go version | cut --delimiter=" " -f3)
 COMMIT ?=$(shell git rev-parse HEAD)
diff --git a/src/go/pt-secure-collect/main.go b/src/go/pt-secure-collect/main.go
index 2f61d5dd..396d2750 100644
--- a/src/go/pt-secure-collect/main.go
+++ b/src/go/pt-secure-collect/main.go
@@ -84,10 +84,11 @@ var (
 		"pt-mysql-summary --host=$mysql-host --port=$mysql-port --user=$mysql-user --password=$mysql-pass",
 	}
 
-	Build     string = "2020-04-23" //nolint
-	GoVersion string = "1.14.1"     //nolint
-	Version   string = "3.5.1"      //nolint
-	Commit    string                //nolint
+	// We do not set anything here, these variables are defined by the Makefile
+	Build     string //nolint
+	GoVersion string //nolint
+	Version   string //nolint
+	Commit    string //nolint
 )
 
 func main() {