diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index f35ac8d7b..facf7c479 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -2,7 +2,8 @@ ifneq (,$(filter $(OS),Windows_NT Windows))
 	EXEEXT=.exe
 endif
 
-next_version := $(file < build_version.txt)
+cat := $(if $(filter $(OS),sh.exe),type,cat)
+next_version := $(shell $(cat) build_version.txt)
 tag := $(shell git describe --exact-match --tags 2>/dev/null)
 
 branch := $(shell git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD)