diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 29b7d5a51cb110e35f999da0a7c6b366b5bd0d05..aebef7015406900cd566b9dc2298aafb2974805c 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -23,7 +23,9 @@
 # ** end header
 #
 
-CAOSDB_SERVER_VERSION ?= $(shell mvn org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-help-plugin:3.1.0:evaluate -Dexpression=project.version -q -DforceStdout)
+# TODO Remove the "sed" part of the command after the fix of
+# https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=1039607
+CAOSDB_SERVER_VERSION != mvn org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-help-plugin:3.5.0:evaluate -Dexpression=project.version -q -DforceStdout | sed -e 's/\x1B.*//g'
 CAOSDB_COMMAND_LINE_OPTIONS ?=
 SHELL:=/bin/bash
 JPDA_PORT ?= 9000
@@ -59,7 +61,7 @@ formatting:
 jar: print-version easy-units
 	mvn -e package -DskipTests
 	@pushd target ; \
-		ln -s caosdb-server-$(CAOSDB_SERVER_VERSION)-jar-with-dependencies.jar caosdb-server.jar; \
+		ln -s "caosdb-server-$(CAOSDB_SERVER_VERSION)-jar-with-dependencies.jar" caosdb-server.jar; \
 		popd
 
 antlr: