diff --git a/src/main.zig b/src/main.zig
--- a/src/main.zig
+++ b/src/main.zig
@@ -30,7 +30,11 @@
     const config: maivi.Config = try .init(init.io, init.arena, init.environ_map);
 
     if (!maivi.dev)
-        maivi.rev = init.environ_map.get("MAIVI_REV") orelse try rev_str(init.io, init.gpa, config.root);
+        maivi.rev = init.environ_map.get("MAIVI_REV") orelse rev_str(init.io, init.gpa, config.root) catch
+            blk: {
+                std.log.warn("version info cannot be retrieved from git. version must be provided using MAIVI_REV", .{});
+                break :blk null;
+            };
     defer if (maivi.rev) |rev| init.gpa.free(rev);
 
     try maivi.init(init.io, init.gpa, &config);
@@ -50,7 +54,6 @@ }
 
 fn rev_str(io: Io, gpa: Allocator, root: []const u8) ![]const u8 {
     if (!process.can_spawn) {
-        std.log.err("error: version info cannot be retrieved from git. version must be provided using MAIVI_REV\n", .{});
         return error.NoChildProcess;
     }