diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 08d98f8cd..4707afc86 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -65,5 +65,6 @@ share/python-wheels/
 .installed.cfg
 *.egg
 MANIFEST
+.GIT_TAG_INFO
 
 test.tar
diff --git a/MANIFEST.in b/MANIFEST.in
index ab316f0cb..91bab2ab7 100644
--- a/MANIFEST.in
+++ b/MANIFEST.in
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ include Makefile
 include .goreleaser.yaml .goreleaser/*.Dockerfile
 include pkg/* cmd/*
 include go.mod go.sum
+include .GIT_TAG_INFO
 prune examples
 prune docs
 prune .github
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index c1d3e6a34..adf78a14c 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ BUILD_DIR := ./build
 VERSION ?= $(shell git describe --match 'v[0-9]*' --always --tags --abbrev=0)
 BUILD_DATE=$(shell date -u +'%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ')
 GIT_COMMIT=$(shell git rev-parse HEAD)
-GIT_TAG=$(shell if [ -z "`git status --porcelain`" ]; then git describe --exact-match --tags HEAD 2>/dev/null; fi)
+GIT_TAG ?= $(shell if [ -z "`git status --porcelain`" ]; then git describe --exact-match --tags HEAD 2>/dev/null; fi)
 GIT_TREE_STATE=$(shell if [ -z "`git status --porcelain`" ]; then echo "clean" ; else echo "dirty"; fi)
 GITSHA ?= $(shell git rev-parse --short HEAD)
 GIT_LATEST_TAG ?= $(shell git describe --tags --abbrev=0)
@@ -110,6 +110,7 @@ build-release:
 		-X $(ROOT)/pkg/version.gitTag=$(GIT_TAG)" \
 	    $(CMD_DIR)/$${target};                                                         \
 	done
+	@[[ ! -z "$(GIT_TAG)" ]] && echo "$(GIT_TAG)" > .GIT_TAG_INFO
 
 help:  ## Display this help
 	@awk 'BEGIN {FS = ":.*##"; printf "\nUsage:\n  make \033[36m<target>\033[0m\n"} /^[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+:.*?##/ { printf "  \033[36m%-15s\033[0m %s\n", $$1, $$2 } /^##@/ { printf "\n\033[1m%s\033[0m\n", substr($$0, 5) } ' $(MAKEFILE_LIST)
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index a6b926ada..f7c7797de 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -26,7 +26,15 @@
 def build_envd_if_not_found():
     if not os.path.exists("bin/envd"):
         logging.info("envd not found. Build from scratch")
-        errno = subprocess.call(["make", "build-release"])
+        try:
+            with open(".GIT_TAG_INFO") as f:
+                logging.info("Use build_tag from envd._version")
+                tag = f.read().strip()
+                errno = subprocess.call(
+                    ["make", "build-release", "GIT_TAG={}".format(tag)]
+                )
+        except:
+            errno = subprocess.call(["make", "build-release"])
         assert errno == 0, "Failed to build envd"