diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index d29d9961..a0ca9745 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
 
 all:
 	python setup.py build_ext --inplace
-	git update-index --assume-unchanged skimage/version.py
 
 clean:
 	find . -name "*.so" -o -name "*.pyc" -o -name "*.pyx.md5" | xargs rm -f