diff --git a/scripts/makejson b/scripts/makejson
index 4334b623..aa843b83 100755
--- a/scripts/makejson
+++ b/scripts/makejson
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ json_file = os.getenv("JSON")
 if version is None:
     sys.stderr.write("Version is not specified for release\n")
     sys.exit(1)
-if version[0] is "v":
+if version.startswith("v"):
     # Strip the leading "v" from versioning
     version = version[1:]