diff --git a/ilcsoft/ilcsoft.py b/ilcsoft/ilcsoft.py
index d3949f21..b6bc53bf 100644
--- a/ilcsoft/ilcsoft.py
+++ b/ilcsoft/ilcsoft.py
@@ -69,8 +69,10 @@ def __init__(self, installPath):
 
         #fg: release_string might be empty, e.g. if lsb_release does not exis (MacOs)
         self.release_number = '-1'
-        if len( release_string ): 
+        if len( release_string ) and re.search('\d', release_string) : 
             self.release_number = release_string[re.search('\d', release_string).start()]
+        else :
+            self.release_number = '1'
         
         for k,v in self.debugInfo.iteritems():
             print "+", k, '\t', str(v).replace("\n","\n\t\t")