diff --git a/.github/workflows/desktop-packaging.yml b/.github/workflows/desktop-packaging.yml
index 8f0714e..594e641 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/desktop-packaging.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/desktop-packaging.yml
@@ -25,9 +25,10 @@ jobs:
           GH_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
         run: |
           set -euo pipefail
-          version="$(gh release list --repo "$GITHUB_REPOSITORY" --limit 1000 --json tagName --jq '.[].tagName' | grep -E '^v[0-9]+\\.[0-9]+\\.[0-9]+$' | sort -V | tail -n 1 || true)"
+          version="$(gh release list --repo "$GITHUB_REPOSITORY" --limit 1000 --json tagName --jq '.[].tagName' | grep -E '^v[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+$' | sort -V | tail -n 1 || true)"
           if [[ -z "$version" ]]; then
-            version=v0.1.0
+            echo "No existing semantic-version releases found; refusing to guess a version." >&2
+            exit 1
           else
             version="$(awk -F. '{printf "v%d.%d.%d", substr($1,2),$2,$3+1}' <<< "$version")"
           fi