diff --git a/scripts/build b/scripts/build
index 17402f61eb..24849b4396 100755
--- a/scripts/build
+++ b/scripts/build
@@ -3,19 +3,21 @@ set -e -x
 
 source $(dirname $0)/version
 
-cd $(dirname $0)/..
-
-mkdir -p bin
-
-[ "$(uname)" != "Darwin" ] && LINKFLAGS="-extldflags -static -s"
+LINKFLAGS="-X github.com/longhorn/longhorn-manager/meta.Version=$VERSION
+           -X github.com/longhorn/longhorn-manager/meta.GitCommit=$GITCOMMIT
+           -X github.com/longhorn/longhorn-manager/meta.BuildDate=$BUILDDATE"
+[ "$(uname)" != "Darwin" ] && OTHER_LINKFLAGS="-extldflags -static -s"
 
-if [ "$(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD)" = "master" ]; then
+# add coverage flags if there is no tag and it's on master or a version branch like v1.6.x
+COMMIT_BRANCH=$(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD)
+COMMIT_TAG=$(git tag --points-at HEAD | head -n 1)
+if [[ "$COMMIT_TAG" == "" ]] && [[ "$COMMIT_BRANCH" == master || "$COMMIT_BRANCH" =~ ^v[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.x$ ]]; then
     COVER="-cover"
     COVERPKG="-coverpkg=github.com/longhorn/longhorn-manager/..."
 fi
 
-CGO_ENABLED=0 go build -ldflags \
-  "-X github.com/longhorn/longhorn-manager/meta.Version=$VERSION \
-   -X github.com/longhorn/longhorn-manager/meta.GitCommit=$GITCOMMIT \
-   -X github.com/longhorn/longhorn-manager/meta.BuildDate=$BUILDDATE \
-   $LINKFLAGS" "$COVER" "$COVERPKG" -o bin/longhorn-manager
+cd $(dirname $0)/..
+
+mkdir -p bin
+
+CGO_ENABLED=0 go build -o bin/longhorn-manager -ldflags "$LINKFLAGS $OTHER_LINKFLAGS" "$COVER" "$COVERPKG"