diff --git a/bin/release b/bin/release
index 0fb8de7f35..f24c2afa58 100755
--- a/bin/release
+++ b/bin/release
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@
 
 # Defaults
 DEST=releases
-VERS=`bin/h5vers`
+VERS=`perl bin/h5vers`
 test "$VERS" || exit 1
 verbose=yes