diff --git a/tools/update_versions b/tools/update_versions
index 0693dd1c03..05d3649ff8 100755
--- a/tools/update_versions
+++ b/tools/update_versions
@@ -39,6 +39,10 @@ import sys, os, re, time
 def get_current_core_version():
     cursor = database.get_dbconnection().cursor()
     cursor.execute('select max(version_num) from core_version')
+    x = cursor.fetchall()[0].values()[0]
+    print 'len', x
+    if x == None:
+        return 0
     return int(cursor.fetchall()[0].values()[0])
 
 verbose = 0