diff --git a/systemd.spec b/systemd.spec
index b526871..0b19b99 100644
--- a/systemd.spec
+++ b/systemd.spec
@@ -32,6 +32,9 @@
 # Build from git main
 %bcond upstream  0
 
+# Build with OBS-specific quirks
+%bcond obs       0
+
 # When bootstrap, libcryptsetup is disabled
 # but auto-features causes many options to be turned on
 # that depend on libcryptsetup (e.g. libcryptsetup-plugins, homed)
@@ -47,7 +50,13 @@ Name:           systemd
 Url:            https://systemd.io
 # Allow users to specify the version and release when building the rpm by
 # setting the %%version_override and %%release_override macros.
+# But don't do that on OBS, otherwise the version subst fails, and will be
+# like 257-123-gabcd257.1 instead of 257-123-gabcd
+%if %{without obs}
 Version:        %{?version_override}%{!?version_override:257.1}
+%else
+Version:        %{?version_override}%{!?version_override:%(cat meson.version)}
+%endif
 Release:        %autorelease
 
 %global stable %(c="%version"; [ "$c" = "${c#*.*}" ]; echo $?)