diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 236bd08..9ac3f9a 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ set(META_APP_DESCRIPTION "Useful C++ classes and routines such as argument parse
 set(META_FEATURES_FOR_COMPILER_DETECTION_HEADER cxx_thread_local)
 set(META_VERSION_MAJOR 5)
 set(META_VERSION_MINOR 6)
-set(META_VERSION_PATCH 0)
+set(META_VERSION_PATCH 1)
 
 # find required 3rd party libraries
 include(3rdParty)
diff --git a/cmake/modules/BasicConfig.cmake b/cmake/modules/BasicConfig.cmake
index f3ac676..74cc113 100644
--- a/cmake/modules/BasicConfig.cmake
+++ b/cmake/modules/BasicConfig.cmake
@@ -167,9 +167,9 @@ endif ()
 set(META_APP_VERSION ${META_VERSION_MAJOR}.${META_VERSION_MINOR}.${META_VERSION_PATCH})
 option(
     APPEND_GIT_REVISION
-    "whether the build script should attempt to append the git revision and latest commit to the version displayed via --help"
+    "whether the build script should attempt to append the Git revision and latest commit to the version displayed via --help"
     ON)
-if (APPEND_GIT_REVISION)
+if (APPEND_GIT_REVISION AND (EXISTS "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/.git" OR EXISTS "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/.git"))
     find_program(GIT_BIN git)
     execute_process(
         COMMAND ${GIT_BIN} rev-list --count HEAD