diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 2163e95a52..6ef0edc2bb 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -838,7 +838,7 @@ release: OUT=buildroot-$(BR2_VERSION)
 # Create release tarballs. We need to fiddle a bit to add the generated
 # documentation to the git output
 release:
-	git archive --format=tar --prefix=$(OUT)/ master > $(OUT).tar
+	git archive --format=tar --prefix=$(OUT)/ HEAD > $(OUT).tar
 	$(MAKE) O=$(OUT) manual-html manual-txt manual-pdf
 	tar rf $(OUT).tar $(OUT)
 	gzip -9 -c < $(OUT).tar > $(OUT).tar.gz