diff --git a/openwrtbuilder b/openwrtbuilder
index 3024502..6fbade6 100755
--- a/openwrtbuilder
+++ b/openwrtbuilder
@@ -768,8 +768,7 @@ main() {
     local raw_release="${USER_RELEASE:=${P_ARR[release]:=$RELEASE}}"
 
     # single call to normalize+ref
-    execute normalize_and_ref "$raw_release" "$mode"
-    read -r release ref < <(normalize_and_ref "$raw_release" "$mode")
+    read release ref < <(normalize_and_ref "$raw_release" "$mode")
 
     debug "Using release: $release, ref: $ref, mode: $mode"