diff --git a/validate/meson.build b/validate/meson.build
index 1de98b5b2f..a1aa62a3b8 100644
--- a/validate/meson.build
+++ b/validate/meson.build
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+# version: '1.15.1' - we're putting this in here to trick the dist-hook check
+# in release.mak in the common submodule without having to update it
 inc_dirs = include_directories('.')
 
 cdata = configuration_data()