diff --git a/gulpfile.babel.js b/gulpfile.babel.js
index 8b380e74c..015a66a46 100644
--- a/gulpfile.babel.js
+++ b/gulpfile.babel.js
@@ -140,8 +140,11 @@ gulp.task(
 
 /** Set the project version, controls package.json and version.js */
 gulp.task('set', function () {
-  // Get the --version arg from command line
-  const version = minimist(process.argv.slice(2), { string: 'version' }).version
+  // example: gulp set --x 1.7.7
+
+  // Get the --x arg from command line
+  const command = minimist(process.argv.slice(2), { string: 'x' })
+  const version = command.x
 
   if (!semver.valid(version)) {
     throw new Error(`Invalid version "${version}"`)
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 3e7151095..650153f64 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
     "run-stress-tests": "gulp run-stress-tests",
     "run-ts-declaration-tests": "gulp run-ts-declaration-tests",
     "docs": "esdoc -c esdoc.json",
-    "versionRelease": "gulp set --version $VERSION && npm version $VERSION --no-git-tag-version",
+    "versionRelease": "gulp set --x $VERSION && npm version $VERSION --no-git-tag-version",
     "browser": "gulp browser && gulp test-browser"
   },
   "husky": {
diff --git a/src/version.js b/src/version.js
index c16371d61..ed6f2bd58 100644
--- a/src/version.js
+++ b/src/version.js
@@ -19,7 +19,8 @@
 
 // DO NOT CHANGE THE VERSION BELOW HERE
 // This is set by the build system at release time, using
-//   gulp set --version <releaseversion>
+//
+// gulp set --x <releaseversion>
 //
 // This is set up this way to keep the version in the code in
 // sync with the npm package version, and to allow the build