diff --git a/share/mk/bsd.linker.mk b/share/mk/bsd.linker.mk
index 839479280ccc..f90a1a31e210 100644
--- a/share/mk/bsd.linker.mk
+++ b/share/mk/bsd.linker.mk
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ ${var}=	${${var}.${${X_}_ld_hash}}
 
 .if ${ld} == "LD" || (${ld} == "XLD" && ${XLD} != ${LD})
 .if !defined(${X_}LINKER_TYPE) || !defined(${X_}LINKER_VERSION)
-_ld_version!=	(${${ld}} --version || echo none) | head -n 1
+_ld_version!=	(${${ld}} --version || echo none) | sed -n '1,1p'
 .if ${_ld_version} == "none"
 .warning Unable to determine linker type from ${ld}=${${ld}}
 .endif