diff --git a/appveyor.yml b/appveyor.yml
index 31cb98d17..9047cd9f5 100644
--- a/appveyor.yml
+++ b/appveyor.yml
@@ -125,8 +125,8 @@ install:
 - echo GSL_LIBS=-Lc:\tools\vcpkg\installed\x64-windows\lib -lgsl -lgslcblas >> src\gcconfig.pri
 
 before_build:
-# Define GC version string
-- echo DEFINES+=GC_VERSION=VERSION_STRING >> src\gcconfig.pri
+# Define GC version string, only for tagged builds
+- if %APPVEYOR_REPO_TAG%==true echo DEFINES+=GC_VERSION=VERSION_STRING >> src\gcconfig.pri
 
 # Enable CloudDB
 - echo CloudDB=active >> src\gcconfig.pri
diff --git a/travis/linux/before_script.sh b/travis/linux/before_script.sh
index 933811b48..dc510bfd0 100755
--- a/travis/linux/before_script.sh
+++ b/travis/linux/before_script.sh
@@ -4,8 +4,8 @@ export PATH=/opt/qt515/bin:$PATH
 
 cp qwt/qwtconfig.pri.in qwt/qwtconfig.pri
 cp src/gcconfig.pri.in src/gcconfig.pri
-# Define GC version string
-echo DEFINES += GC_VERSION=VERSION_STRING >> src/gcconfig.pri
+# Define GC version string, only for tagged builds
+if [ -n "$TRAVIS_TAG" ]; then echo DEFINES += GC_VERSION=VERSION_STRING >> src/gcconfig.pri; fi
 # make a release build
 sed -i "s|#\(CONFIG += release.*\)|\1 static|" src/gcconfig.pri
 sed -i "s|^#QMAKE_CXXFLAGS|QMAKE_CXXFLAGS|" src/gcconfig.pri
diff --git a/travis/osx/before_script.sh b/travis/osx/before_script.sh
index e3c48c5de..fe0b6acf9 100755
--- a/travis/osx/before_script.sh
+++ b/travis/osx/before_script.sh
@@ -26,8 +26,8 @@ cp qwt/qwtconfig.pri.in qwt/qwtconfig.pri
 cp src/gcconfig.pri.in src/gcconfig.pri
 # Bison
 echo QMAKE_YACC=/usr/local/opt/bison@2.7/bin/bison >> src/gcconfig.pri
-# Define GC version string
-echo DEFINES += GC_VERSION=VERSION_STRING >> src/gcconfig.pri
+# Define GC version string, only for tagged builds
+if [ -n "$TRAVIS_TAG" ]; then echo DEFINES += GC_VERSION=VERSION_STRING >> src/gcconfig.pri; fi
 sed -i "" "s|#\(CONFIG += release.*\)|\1 static |" src/gcconfig.pri
 sed -i "" "s|#\(QMAKE_CXXFLAGS\).*|\1_RELEASE += -mmacosx-version-min=10.7 -arch x86_64|" src/gcconfig.pri
 sed -i "" "s|^#CloudDB|CloudDB|" src/gcconfig.pri