diff --git a/scripts/archive-source.sh b/scripts/archive-source.sh
index 0bd9f9637c..ad34b5d48f 100755
--- a/scripts/archive-source.sh
+++ b/scripts/archive-source.sh
@@ -66,16 +66,17 @@ for sm in $submodules; do
             echo "WARNING: submodule $sm is out of sync"
             ;;
     esac
+    (cd "$sm"; git rev-parse HEAD 2>/dev/null >HEAD)
     (cd $sm; git archive --format tar --prefix "$sm/" $(tree_ish)) > "$sub_file"
     test $? -ne 0 && error "failed to archive submodule $sm ($smhash)"
     tar --concatenate --file "$tar_file" "$sub_file"
     test $? -ne 0 && error "failed append submodule $sm to $tar_file"
+    tar --append --file "$tar_file" "$sm"/HEAD
 done
 
-python3 ./scripts/gen-license.py > XEMU_LICENSE
 git rev-parse HEAD 2>/dev/null | tr -d '\n' > XEMU_COMMIT
 git symbolic-ref --short HEAD > XEMU_BRANCH
-git describe --match 'xemu-v*' | cut -c 7- | tr -d '\n' > XEMU_VERSION
-tar -r --file "$tar_file" XEMU_COMMIT XEMU_BRANCH XEMU_VERSION XEMU_LICENSE
+git describe --tags --match 'xemu-v*' | cut -c 7- | tr -d '\n' > XEMU_VERSION
+tar -r --file "$tar_file" XEMU_COMMIT XEMU_BRANCH XEMU_VERSION
 
 exit 0