diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 0c0e1343c1..dbbddb68e2 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -676,17 +676,17 @@ conf.set_quoted('DEFAULT_NET_NAMING_SCHEME', default_net_naming_scheme)
 
 time_epoch = get_option('time-epoch')
 if time_epoch == -1
-        source_date_epoch = run_command('sh', ['-c', 'echo "$SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH"']).stdout().strip()
-        if source_date_epoch != ''
-                time_epoch = source_date_epoch.to_int()
-        elif git.found() and run_command('test', '-e', '.git').returncode() == 0
+        time_epoch = run_command('sh', ['-c', 'echo "$SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH"']).stdout().strip()
+        if time_epoch == '' and git.found() and run_command('test', '-e', '.git').returncode() == 0
                 # If we're in a git repository, use the creation time of the latest git tag.
                 latest_tag = run_command('git', 'describe', '--abbrev=0', '--tags').stdout().strip()
-                time_epoch = run_command('git', 'log', '-1', '--format=%at', latest_tag).stdout().to_int()
-        else
-                NEWS = files('NEWS')
-                time_epoch = run_command(stat, '-c', '%Y', NEWS).stdout().to_int()
+                time_epoch = run_command('git', 'log', '-1', '--format=%at', latest_tag).stdout()
         endif
+        if time_epoch == ''
+                NEWS = files('NEWS')
+                time_epoch = run_command(stat, '-c', '%Y', NEWS).stdout()
+        endif
+        time_epoch = time_epoch.to_int()
 endif
 conf.set('TIME_EPOCH', time_epoch)