diff --git a/config.go b/config.go
index ab45475..6c5a1c9 100644
--- a/config.go
+++ b/config.go
@@ -231,22 +231,30 @@ func parseConfig() {
 	log.Println("VERSION =", version)
 	log.Println("len(VERSION) =", len(version))
 
-	_, ref, _ := shell.Run("cat .git/refs/tags/v" + version)
-	perl(ref)
-	ref = strings.TrimSpace(ref)
-	log.Println("VERSION git ref =", ref)
+	_, tagref, _ := shell.Run("cat .git/refs/tags/v" + version)
+	perl(tagref)
+	tagref = strings.TrimSpace(tagref)
+	log.Println("VERSION git tag ref =", tagref)
 
 	_, currentRef, _ := shell.Run("git rev-list -1 HEAD")
-	log.Println("CURRENT VERSION git ref =", currentRef)
-	config.Gitref = strings.TrimSuffix(currentRef, "\n")
+	config.Gitref = chomp(currentRef)
 
 	_, goversion, _ := shell.Run("go version")
-	config.Goversion = strings.TrimSuffix(goversion, "\n")
+	config.Goversion = chomp(goversion)
 
 	config.Dirty = false
-	if (ref != currentRef) {
+	if (tagref == config.Gitref) {
+		log.Println("setting config.Dirty = false")
+		config.Dirty = false
+	} else {
+		log.Println("setting config.Dirty = true")
 		config.Dirty = true
 	}
+
+	log.Println("tagref           =", tagref)
+	log.Println("config.Gitref    =", config.Gitref)
+	log.Println("config.Goversion =", config.Goversion)
+	log.Println("config.Dirty     =", config.Dirty)
 }
 
 // TODO: fix this to chomp \n \r NULL \t and ' '
@@ -255,10 +263,15 @@ func chomp(s string) string {
 //	var bytesSplice []byte
 //	byteSlice := bytesBuffer.Bytes()
 //	b := bytes.Trim(byteSlice, "\x00") // removes NULL
+	s = strings.Trim(s, "\x00")
+	s = strings.Trim(s, "\n")
+	s = strings.Trim(s, "\n")
+	s = strings.TrimSuffix(s, "\r")
+	s = strings.TrimSuffix(s, "\n")
 
-	cmd := strings.TrimSpace(s)		// this is like 'chomp' in perl
-	cmd  = strings.TrimSuffix(cmd, "\n")	// this is like 'chomp' in perl
-	return cmd
+	s = strings.TrimSpace(s)		// this is like 'chomp' in perl
+	s = strings.TrimSuffix(s, "\n")		// this is like 'chomp' in perl
+	return s
 }
 
 func perl(a ...interface{}) {