diff --git a/src/tools/genVersionHeader.pl b/src/tools/genVersionHeader.pl
index a1950392c..1bffb3699 100644
--- a/src/tools/genVersionHeader.pl
+++ b/src/tools/genVersionHeader.pl
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ if (-d '_darcs') { # Darcs
     # v1-4-dirty
     # is tag 'v1' plus 4 patches
     # with uncommited modifications
-    my @tags = `darcs show tags`;
+    my @tags = split('\n', `darcs show tags`);
     my $count = `darcs changes --count --from-tag .` - 1;
     my $result = $tags[0] . '-' . $count;
     print "== darcs show tags, changes:\n$result\n==\n" if $opt_v;