diff --git a/nibabel/pkg_info.py b/nibabel/pkg_info.py
index 7e816939d..7232806a0 100644
--- a/nibabel/pkg_info.py
+++ b/nibabel/pkg_info.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 
 import sys
+from contextlib import suppress
 from subprocess import run
 
 from packaging.version import Version
@@ -102,14 +103,16 @@ def pkg_commit_hash(pkg_path: str | None = None) -> tuple[str, str]:
     ver = Version(__version__)
     if ver.local is not None and ver.local.startswith('g'):
         return 'installation', ver.local[1:8]
-    # maybe we are in a repository
-    proc = run(
-        ('git', 'rev-parse', '--short', 'HEAD'),
-        capture_output=True,
-        cwd=pkg_path,
-    )
-    if proc.stdout:
-        return 'repository', proc.stdout.decode().strip()
+    # maybe we are in a repository, but consider that we may not have git
+    with suppress(FileNotFoundError):
+        proc = run(
+            ('git', 'rev-parse', '--short', 'HEAD'),
+            capture_output=True,
+            cwd=pkg_path,
+        )
+        if proc.stdout:
+            return 'repository', proc.stdout.decode().strip()
+
     return '(none found)', '<not found>'