diff --git a/mq.sh b/mq.sh
index 9d0e26c..22d6d74 100755
--- a/mq.sh
+++ b/mq.sh
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ if ! RemoteCommand exit; then
 fi
 
 # Check the version of our scripts compared to the canonical host
-if ! RemoteCommand cat "${BASE}/VERSION" |
+if ! RemoteCommand cat "${BASE}/VERSION" </dev/null |
 	diff "${SCRIPT_PATH}/VERSION" -
 then
     echo "Local version of mq.sh appears to differ from version on ${HOST} at ${BASE}"