diff --git a/helpers/prepare-release/main.go b/helpers/prepare-release/main.go
index 1bb042969..b0a636c29 100644
--- a/helpers/prepare-release/main.go
+++ b/helpers/prepare-release/main.go
@@ -333,7 +333,7 @@ func updateVersionDev() {
 		die("unable to write version to file: %v", err)
 	}
 
-	newVersion := fmt.Sprintf(`var version = "%s-dev (compiled manually)"`, opts.Version)
+	newVersion := fmt.Sprintf(`const Version = "%s-dev (compiled manually)"`, opts.Version)
 	replace(versionCodeFile, versionPattern, newVersion)
 
 	msg("committing cmd/restic/global.go with dev version")
diff --git a/internal/global/global.go b/internal/global/global.go
index cef010dbd..73a964a60 100644
--- a/internal/global/global.go
+++ b/internal/global/global.go
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ import (
 // to a missing backend storage location or config file
 var ErrNoRepository = errors.New("repository does not exist")
 
-var version = "0.19.0-dev (compiled manually)"
+const Version = "0.19.0-dev (compiled manually)"
 
 // TimeFormat is the format used for all timestamps printed by restic.
 const TimeFormat = "2006-01-02 15:04:05"