diff --git a/gitlab-ci-git-buildpackage b/gitlab-ci-git-buildpackage
index e3eddcc..b779cd0 100755
--- a/gitlab-ci-git-buildpackage
+++ b/gitlab-ci-git-buildpackage
@@ -25,15 +25,20 @@ else
              build-essential fakeroot git-buildpackage pristine-tar $BUILD_DEPENDS
 fi
 dpkg-checkbuilddeps
-echo "ensure pristine-tar branch exists and is current"
-git clean -fdx
-git reset --hard
-git fetch --all
-git checkout -B pristine-tar origin/pristine-tar || ( \
-    echo "no pristine-tar branch, trying uscan";
-    apt_get_auto_install gnupg2 libwww-perl;
-    uscan --verbose --download-current-version --force-download --rename --skip-signature;
-)
+debversion=$(dpkg-parsechangelog -S Version)
+if [[ $debversion = *-* ]]; then
+  echo "ensure pristine-tar branch exists and is current"
+  git clean -fdx
+  git reset --hard
+  git fetch --all
+  git checkout -B pristine-tar origin/pristine-tar || ( \
+      echo "no pristine-tar branch, trying uscan";
+      apt_get_auto_install gnupg2 libwww-perl;
+      uscan --verbose --download-current-version --force-download --rename --skip-signature;
+  )
+else
+  echo "building native package version $debversion"
+fi
 echo "make $CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME branch current for gbp"
 git checkout -B "$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME" "$CI_COMMIT_SHA"
 if [ -z "$CI_COMMIT_TAG" ]; then