diff --git a/SCYLLA-VERSION-GEN b/SCYLLA-VERSION-GEN
index 753c98265455..a3365bcd3e82 100755
--- a/SCYLLA-VERSION-GEN
+++ b/SCYLLA-VERSION-GEN
@@ -10,7 +10,12 @@ else
 	DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d)
 	GIT_COMMIT=$(git log --pretty=format:'%h' -n 1)
 	SCYLLA_VERSION=$VERSION
-	SCYLLA_RELEASE=$DATE.$GIT_COMMIT
+	# For custom package builds, replace "0" with "counter.your_name",
+	# where counter starts at 1 and increments for successive versions.
+	# This ensures that the package manager will select your custom
+	# package over the standard release.
+	SCYLLA_BUILD=0
+	SCYLLA_RELEASE=$SCYLLA_BUILD.$DATE.$GIT_COMMIT
 fi
 
 echo "$SCYLLA_VERSION-$SCYLLA_RELEASE"