diff --git a/CMake/SourceStatus.cmake b/CMake/SourceStatus.cmake
index 027b1aa1e06c7e65ec76aeae10f47b199f7dac6d..e322bbd6a36e990c8bac5379a4496472a42536da 100644
--- a/CMake/SourceStatus.cmake
+++ b/CMake/SourceStatus.cmake
@@ -28,6 +28,16 @@ if(EXISTS "${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/.git")
       OUTPUT_VARIABLE OTB_GIT_LAST_COMMIT
       OUTPUT_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE ERROR_QUIET)
 
+    #git symbolic-ref --short -q HEAD does not work on older git version
+    #rather than checking for git version. it is better to not use that
+    #option and employ cmake stuff to do the work
+    execute_process(COMMAND ${GIT_EXECUTABLE} symbolic-ref -q HEAD
+      WORKING_DIRECTORY ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}
+      OUTPUT_VARIABLE OTB_GIT_SYMBOLIC_REF_OUTPUT
+      OUTPUT_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE ERROR_QUIET)
+
+    get_filename_component(OTB_GIT_BRANCH ${OTB_GIT_SYMBOLIC_REF_OUTPUT} NAME)
+
     execute_process(COMMAND ${GIT_EXECUTABLE} log -1 --pretty=format:%H
       WORKING_DIRECTORY ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}
       OUTPUT_VARIABLE OTB_WC_REVISION
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index bd5e0311dee78f8641c58cf9974b74dd50d7fb0d..123beeb33b121e5859339c7532e51258db662d5a 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -385,10 +385,8 @@ endmacro()
 
 message("\n======================= Begin of OTB cmake summary =======================\n")
 
-if(OTB_GIT_LAST_COMMIT)
-    get_white_spaces("git log -1 --oneline" insert_sp)
-  message("git log -1 --oneline     = [${OTB_GIT_LAST_COMMIT}]")
-endif()
+message("git log -1 --oneline     = [${OTB_GIT_LAST_COMMIT}]")
+message("git symbolic-ref -q HEAD = ${OTB_GIT_BRANCH}")
 
 set(option_list ${OTB_MODULE_ACTIVATION_OPTION_LIST})
 list(SORT option_list)