diff --git a/sys/conf/newvers.sh b/sys/conf/newvers.sh
--- a/sys/conf/newvers.sh
+++ b/sys/conf/newvers.sh
@@ -57,6 +57,8 @@
 if [ -n "${BRANCH_OVERRIDE}" ]; then
 	BRANCH=${BRANCH_OVERRIDE}
 fi
+unset RELEASE
+unset VERSION
 
 if [ -z "${SYSDIR}" ]; then
 	SYSDIR=$(dirname $0)/..