diff --git a/build.zig b/build.zig
index 8c18ea4841bcd00e19239273014f3e11699781f8..6b94dd1d195da678e7ef1335d68464e8fd9dcadc 100644
--- a/build.zig
+++ b/build.zig
@@ -272,12 +272,13 @@ pub fn build(b: *std.Build) !void {
             const io = b.graph.io;
             const git_file = b.root.openFile(io, ".git", .{ .allow_directory = false }) catch |err| switch (err) {
                 error.IsDir => {
-                    b.dependOnFileContents(b.path(".git/logs/HEAD"));
+                    b.dependOnFileMetadata(b.path(".git/logs/HEAD"));
                     break :git;
                 },
                 else => |e| return e,
             };
             defer git_file.close(io);
+            b.dependOnFileContents(b.path(".git"));
             var line_buffer: ["gitdir: ".len + std.Io.Dir.max_path_bytes + 1]u8 = undefined;
             var git_file_reader = git_file.reader(io, &line_buffer);
             if (std.mem.cutPrefix(u8, std.mem.trimEnd(u8, try git_file_reader.interface.allocRemaining(
@@ -285,7 +286,7 @@ pub fn build(b: *std.Build) !void {
                 .limited("gitdir: ".len + std.Io.Dir.max_path_bytes + "\r\n".len),
             ), "\r\n"), "gitdir: ")) |git_dir| {
                 const head_file = b.pathJoin(&.{ git_dir, "logs", "HEAD" });
-                b.dependOnFileContents(if (std.Io.Dir.path.isAbsolute(head_file))
+                b.dependOnFileMetadata(if (std.Io.Dir.path.isAbsolute(head_file))
                     b.graph.cwdRelativePath(head_file)
                 else
                     b.path(head_file));