diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index 367deda0..0e1e05e4 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -2,6 +2,11 @@
 
 ## Unreleased
 
+ - Fixed build script error with development GDAL versions
+
+
+  - <https://github.com/georust/gdal/pull/439>
+
 ## 0.16
 
 - **Breaking**: `Dataset::close` now consumes `self`
diff --git a/build.rs b/build.rs
index 6303f68b..8e11ed96 100644
--- a/build.rs
+++ b/build.rs
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ use std::{env, str::FromStr};
 
 fn main() {
     let gdal_version_string = env::var("DEP_GDAL_VERSION_NUMBER")
-        .expect("The GDAL-SYS crate must emit the version of libgdal via cargo:version_number");
+        .expect("The gdal-sys crate must emit the version of libgdal via cargo:version_number");
     println!("GDAL version string: \"{gdal_version_string}\"");
 
     // this version string is the result of:
diff --git a/gdal-sys/build.rs b/gdal-sys/build.rs
index fcd3c9ff..fcccea4a 100644
--- a/gdal-sys/build.rs
+++ b/gdal-sys/build.rs
@@ -207,7 +207,15 @@ fn main() {
             include_paths.push(dir.to_str().unwrap().to_string());
         }
         if version.is_none() {
-            if let Ok(pkg_version) = Version::parse(gdal.version.trim()) {
+            // development GDAL versions look like 3.7.2dev, which is not valid semver
+            let mut version_string = gdal.version.trim().to_string();
+            if let Some(idx) = version_string.rfind(|c: char| c.is_ascii_digit()) {
+                if idx + 1 < version_string.len() && !version_string[idx + 1..].starts_with('-') {
+                    version_string.insert(idx + 1, '-');
+                }
+            }
+
+            if let Ok(pkg_version) = Version::parse(&version_string) {
                 version.replace(pkg_version);
             }
         }