diff --git a/buildcore.sh b/buildcore.sh
index f7c4b7e24..7bf3f9c47 100755
--- a/buildcore.sh
+++ b/buildcore.sh
@@ -70,6 +70,20 @@ if [ "$OSNAME" != "AIX" ]; then
 	export HOME=/root		# This is so rpm and gpg will know home, even in sudo
 fi
 
+# for the git case, query the current branch and set REL (changing master to devel if necessary)
+function setbranch {
+	#git checkout $BRANCH
+	REL=`git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD`
+	if [ "$REL" = "master" ]; then
+		REL="devel"
+	fi
+}
+
+if [ "$REL" = "xcat-core" ]; then			# using git
+	GIT=1
+	setbranch					# this changes the REL variable
+fi
+
 # this is needed only when we are transitioning the yum over to frs
 if [ "$FRSYUM" != 0 ]; then
 	YUMDIR=$FRS
@@ -84,7 +98,11 @@ if [ -n "$EMBED" ]; then EMBEDDIR="/$EMBED"
 else EMBEDDIR=""; fi
 XCATCORE="xcat-core"		# core-snap is a sym link to xcat-core
 
-DESTDIR=../..$EMBEDDIR/$XCATCORE
+if [ "$GIT" = "1" ]; then                      # using git - need to include REL in the path where we put the built rpms
+	DESTDIR=../../$REL$EMBEDDIR/$XCATCORE
+else
+	DESTDIR=../..$EMBEDDIR/$XCATCORE
+fi
 SRCD=core-snap-srpms
 
 # currently aix builds ppc rpms, but someday it should build noarch
@@ -123,20 +141,9 @@ else
 	#echo "source=$source"
 fi
 
-# for the git case, query the current branch and set REL (changing master to devel if necessary)
-function setbranch {
-	#git checkout $BRANCH
-	REL=`git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD`
-	if [ "$REL" = "master" ]; then
-		REL="devel"
-	fi
-}
-
 # If they have not given us a premade update file, do an svn update or git pull and capture the results
 SOMETHINGCHANGED=0
-if [ "$REL" = "xcat-core" ]; then			# using git
-	GIT=1
-	setbranch
+if [ "$GIT" = "1" ]; then			# using git
 	if [ -z "$GITUP" ]; then
 		GITUP=../coregitup
 		echo "git pull > $GITUP"
diff --git a/perl-xCAT/modifyUtils b/perl-xCAT/modifyUtils
index c336e0d96..b9c9283fc 100755
--- a/perl-xCAT/modifyUtils
+++ b/perl-xCAT/modifyUtils
@@ -1,34 +1,21 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 # Put the version, svn revision #, and build date into the Version function in Version.pm
 
-if [ -z "$2" ]
+if [ -z "$1" ]
 	then
-	echo "modifyUtils:  Error:  must specify the xCAT version and svn revision number as arguments" >&2
+	echo "modifyUtils:  Error:  must specify the xCAT version as an argument" >&2
 	exit
 fi
 
 VER=$1
-SVNREF="svn r$2, "
-
-#SVNINFO=`svn info 2>/dev/null|grep Revision`
-#/bin/echo -e $SVNINFO
-#if [ $? -ne 0 -a -f .svninfo ]; then
-#    SVNINFO=`cat .svninfo 2>/dev/null|grep Revision`
-#fi
-#if [ $? -eq 0 ]
-#	then
-#		SVNREF="svn r"`echo $SVNINFO|awk '{print $2}'`", "
-#	else
-#		SVNREF=""
-#	fi
 
 BUILDDATE=`date`
-#echo ". '(${SVNREF}built $BUILDDATE)'"
+#echo ". '(built $BUILDDATE)'"
 
 if [ "$(uname)" = "AIX" ]
 then
-	sed -e s/"#XCATVERSIONSUBHERE"/". '$VER'"/ -e s/"#XCATSVNBUILDSUBHERE"/". ' (${SVNREF}built $BUILDDATE)'"/ xCAT/Version.pm >xCAT/Version.pm.new
+	sed -e s/"#XCATVERSIONSUBHERE"/". '$VER'"/ -e s/"#XCATSVNBUILDSUBHERE"/". ' (built $BUILDDATE)'"/ xCAT/Version.pm >xCAT/Version.pm.new
 	mv xCAT/Version.pm.new xCAT/Version.pm
 else
-	sed -i -e s/"#XCATVERSIONSUBHERE"/". '$VER'"/ -e s/"#XCATSVNBUILDSUBHERE"/". ' (${SVNREF}built $BUILDDATE)'"/ xCAT/Version.pm
+	sed -i -e s/"#XCATVERSIONSUBHERE"/". '$VER'"/ -e s/"#XCATSVNBUILDSUBHERE"/". ' (built $BUILDDATE)'"/ xCAT/Version.pm
 fi
diff --git a/perl-xCAT/perl-xCAT.spec b/perl-xCAT/perl-xCAT.spec
index c8de4c5f3..31c8a4271 100644
--- a/perl-xCAT/perl-xCAT.spec
+++ b/perl-xCAT/perl-xCAT.spec
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@ Provides perl xCAT libraries for core functionality.  Required for all xCAT inst
 Includes xCAT::Table, xCAT::NodeRange, among others.
 
 %define zvm %(if [ "$zvm" = "1" ];then echo 1; else echo 0; fi)
-%define svninfo %(svn info | grep Revision | awk '{print $2}')
 
 %prep
 %setup -q -n perl-xCAT
@@ -34,7 +33,7 @@ Includes xCAT::Table, xCAT::NodeRange, among others.
 # as it is in svn.
 
 # Modify the Version() function in xCAT/Utils.pm to automatically have the correct version
-./modifyUtils %{version} %{svninfo}
+./modifyUtils %{version}
 
 # Build the pod version of the man pages for each DB table.  It puts them in the man5 and man7 subdirs.
 # Then convert the pods to man pages and html pages.