diff --git a/TarSCM/helpers.py b/TarSCM/helpers.py
index 0254a97e..c75d0a19 100644
--- a/TarSCM/helpers.py
+++ b/TarSCM/helpers.py
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ def file_write_legacy(fname, string, *args):
 
 
 class Helpers():
-    def run_cmd(self, cmd, cwd, interactive=False, raisesysexit=False):
+    def run_cmd(self, cmd, cwd, interactive=False, raisesysexit=False, includeStderr=True):
         """
         Execute the command cmd in the working directory cwd and check return
         value. If the command returns non-zero and raisesysexit is True raise a
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ def run_cmd(self, cmd, cwd, interactive=False, raisesysexit=False):
         proc = subprocess.Popen(cmd,
                                 shell=False,
                                 stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
-                                stderr=subprocess.STDOUT,
+                                stderr=subprocess.STDOUT if includeStderr else subprocess.DEVNULL,
                                 cwd=cwd)
         output = ''
         if interactive:
diff --git a/TarSCM/scm/git.py b/TarSCM/scm/git.py
index 87bdfdb6..7cde3391 100644
--- a/TarSCM/scm/git.py
+++ b/TarSCM/scm/git.py
@@ -307,7 +307,7 @@ def _detect_parent_tag(self, args=None):
                 cmd.append("--match=%s" % args['match_tag'])
         except KeyError:
             pass
-        rcode, output = self.helpers.run_cmd(cmd, self.clone_dir)
+        rcode, output = self.helpers.run_cmd(cmd, self.clone_dir, includeStderr=False)
 
         if rcode == 0:
             # strip to remove newlines