--- ./ci/build/build-vscode.sh
+++ ./ci/build/build-vscode.sh
@@ -45,14 +45,12 @@
   # Set the commit Code will embed into the product.json.  We need to do this
   # since Code tries to get the commit from the `.git` directory which will fail
   # as it is a submodule.
-  export VSCODE_DISTRO_COMMIT
-  VSCODE_DISTRO_COMMIT=$(git rev-parse HEAD)
+  export VSCODE_DISTRO_COMMIT=none
 
   # Add the date, our name, links, and enable telemetry (this just makes
   # telemetry available; telemetry can still be disabled by flag or setting).
   # This needs to be done before building as Code will read this file and embed
   # it into the client-side code.
-  git checkout product.json             # Reset in case the script exited early.
   cp product.json product.original.json # Since jq has no inline edit.
   jq --slurp '.[0] * .[1]' product.original.json <(
     cat << EOF
@@ -99,7 +97,6 @@
   # Reset so if you develop after building you will not be stuck with the wrong
   # commit (the dev client will use `oss-dev` but the dev server will still use
   # product.json which will have `stable-$commit`).
-  git checkout product.json
 
   popd