diff --git a/scripts/setlocalversion b/scripts/setlocalversion
index 63a87f45c..e53acb68d 100755
--- a/scripts/setlocalversion
+++ b/scripts/setlocalversion
@@ -211,7 +211,7 @@ else
 	# LOCALVERSION= is not specified
 	if test "${LOCALVERSION+set}" != "set"; then
 		scm=$(scm_version --short)
-		res="$res${scm:++}"
+		res="$res${scm:+}"
 	fi
 fi