diff --git a/doc/msbuild.md b/doc/msbuild.md
index 5ae13032..10b23e8a 100644
--- a/doc/msbuild.md
+++ b/doc/msbuild.md
@@ -2,6 +2,23 @@
 
 Installing the `Nerdbank.GitVersioning` package from NuGet into your MSBuild-based projects is the recommended way to add version information to your MSBuild project outputs including assemblies, native dll's, and packages.
 
+If you want the package to affect all the projects in your repo, and you use `PackageReference` (rather than `packages.config`),
+you can add this to a repo-level `Directory.Build.props` file:
+
+```xml
+<ItemGroup>
+  <PackageReference Include="Nerdbank.GitVersioning"
+                    Version="(latest-version-here)"
+                    PrivateAssets="all"
+                    Condition="!Exists('packages.config')" />
+</ItemGroup>
+```
+
+The condition prevents the `PackageReference` from impacting any `packages.config`-based projects
+such as vcxproj that may be in your repo.
+Such projects will require individual installation of the Nerdbank.GitVersioning nuget package
+using the NuGet Package Manager in Visual Studio.
+
 ## Public releases
 
 By default, each build of a Nuget package will include the git commit ID.
@@ -21,6 +38,64 @@ You should only build with this property set from one release branch per
 major.minor version to avoid the risk of producing multiple unique NuGet
 packages with a colliding version spec.
 
+## Custom build authoring
+
+If you are writing your own MSBuild targets or properties and need to consume version information,
+Nerdbank.GitVersioning is there to help.
+The version information created by this package is expressed as MSBuild properties.
+These properties are set by the `GetBuildVersion` target defined in this package.
+This means any dependency you have on these properties must ensure this target has already executed.
+This can be done by defining your own msbuild target like so:
+
+```xml
+<Target Name="MyPropertySetter" DependsOnTargets="GetBuildVersion">
+  <PropertyGroup>
+    <MyOwnProperty>My assembly version is: $(AssemblyVersion)</MyOwnProperty>
+  </PropertyGroup>
+</Target>
+```
+
+In the above example, the `AssemblyVersion` property, which is set by the
+`GetBuildVersion` target defined by Nerdbank.GitVersioning, is used to define
+another property.
+It could also be used to define msbuild items or anything else you want.
+
+### MSBuild properties defined in `GetBuildVersion`
+
+Many MSBuild properties are set by `GetBuildVersion` allowing you to define or redefine
+properties in virtually any format you like.
+The authoritative list is [here](https://github.com/dotnet/Nerdbank.GitVersioning/blob/dae20a6d15f04d8161fd092c36fdf1f57c021ba1/src/Nerdbank.GitVersioning.Tasks/GetBuildVersion.cs#L300-L323) (switch to the default branch to see the current set).
+
+Below is a snapshot of the properties with example values.
+Note that the values and formats can vary depending on your `version.json` settings and version height.
+
+Property | Example value
+--|--
+AssemblyFileVersion | 2.7.74.11627
+AssemblyInformationalVersion | 2.7.74-alpha+6b2d14ba68
+AssemblyVersion | 2.7.0.0
+BuildingRef | refs/heads/fix299
+BuildNumber | 74
+BuildVersion | 2.7.74.11627
+BuildVersion3Components | 2.7.74
+BuildVersionNumberComponent | 74
+BuildVersionSimple | 2.7.74
+ChocolateyPackageVersion | 2.7.74-alpha-g6b2d14ba68
+CloudBuildNumber | (empty except in cloud build)
+FileVersion | 2.7.74.11627
+GitCommitDateTicks | 637547960670000000
+GitCommitId | 6b2d14ba6844d2152c48268a8d2c1933759e7229
+GitCommitIdShort | 6b2d14ba68
+GitVersionHeight | 74
+MajorMinorVersion | 2.7
+NPMPackageVersion | 2.7.74-alpha.g6b2d14ba68
+NuGetPackageVersion | 2.7.74-alpha-g6b2d14ba68
+PackageVersion | 2.7.74-alpha-g6b2d14ba68
+PrereleaseVersion | -alpha
+PublicRelease | False
+SemVerBuildSuffix | +6b2d14ba68
+Version | 2.7.74-alpha-g6b2d14ba68
+
 ## Build performance
 
 Repos with many projects or many commits between major/minor version bumps can suffer from compromised build performance due to the MSBuild task that computes the version information for each project.
diff --git a/doc/public_vs_stable.md b/doc/public_vs_stable.md
index 3c121400..058790e0 100644
--- a/doc/public_vs_stable.md
+++ b/doc/public_vs_stable.md
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ When a branch becomes stable, the `-prerelease` tag can be removed by adding a c
 To remove the `-prerelease`, the version.json file must be changed to remove it.
 Committing this change communicates to everyone looking at the repo that this software is stable.
 
-The natural evolution of a product includes usually includes entering and exiting a `-prerelease` stage many times, but within a branded release (usually recognized by an intentional version number like "1.2") the progression usually transitions only one direction: from `-prerelease` to stable quality.
+The natural evolution of a product usually includes entering and exiting a `-prerelease` stage many times, but within a branded release (usually recognized by an intentional version number like "1.2") the progression usually transitions only one direction: from `-prerelease` to stable quality.
 For example, an anticipated version 1.2 might first be released to the public as 1.2-beta before releasing as 1.2 (without the `-beta` suffix).
 If the product is undergoing significant changes that warrant downgrading the stability rating to pre-release quality, the version number tends to be incremented at the same time.
 So a 1.2 product's subsequent release might appear as 1.3-beta or 2.0-beta.
diff --git a/src/Cake.GitVersioning/Cake.GitVersioning.csproj b/src/Cake.GitVersioning/Cake.GitVersioning.csproj
index 62f6dc01..ea18fd5e 100644
--- a/src/Cake.GitVersioning/Cake.GitVersioning.csproj
+++ b/src/Cake.GitVersioning/Cake.GitVersioning.csproj
@@ -8,9 +8,9 @@
     <Company>andarno</Company>
     <Description>Cake wrapper for Nerdbank.GitVersioning.  Stamps your assemblies with semver 2.0 compliant git commit specific version information and provides NuGet versioning information as well.</Description>
     <Copyright>Copyright (c) .NET Foundation and Contributors</Copyright>
-    <PackageTags>git commit versioning version assemblyinfo</PackageTags>
-    <PackageIconUrl>https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/cake-contrib/graphics/png/cake-contrib-medium.png</PackageIconUrl>
-    <PackageIcon>cake-contrib-medium.png</PackageIcon>
+    <PackageTags>git commit versioning version assemblyinfo cake-addin</PackageTags>
+    <PackageIconUrl>https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/cake-contrib/graphics/png/addin/cake-contrib-addin-medium.png</PackageIconUrl>
+    <PackageIcon>cake-contrib-addin-medium.png</PackageIcon>
     <PackageProjectUrl>http://github.com/dotnet/Nerdbank.GitVersioning</PackageProjectUrl>
     <SignAssembly>false</SignAssembly>
 
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@
   </ItemGroup>
 
   <ItemGroup>
-    <None Include="cake-contrib-medium.png" Pack="true" PackagePath="" />
+    <None Include="cake-contrib-addin-medium.png" Pack="true" PackagePath="" />
 
     <!-- Include native binaries -->
     <None Include="$(LibGit2SharpNativeBinaries)runtimes\**\*.*" Pack="true" PackagePath="lib\netstandard2.0\lib\" LinkBase="lib" />
diff --git a/src/Cake.GitVersioning/cake-contrib-addin-medium.png b/src/Cake.GitVersioning/cake-contrib-addin-medium.png
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..84c2a823
Binary files /dev/null and b/src/Cake.GitVersioning/cake-contrib-addin-medium.png differ
diff --git a/src/Cake.GitVersioning/cake-contrib-medium.png b/src/Cake.GitVersioning/cake-contrib-medium.png
deleted file mode 100644
index 9881edc4..00000000
Binary files a/src/Cake.GitVersioning/cake-contrib-medium.png and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning.Tests/GitExtensionsTests.cs b/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning.Tests/LibGit2GitExtensionsTests.cs
similarity index 95%
rename from src/NerdBank.GitVersioning.Tests/GitExtensionsTests.cs
rename to src/NerdBank.GitVersioning.Tests/LibGit2GitExtensionsTests.cs
index 7a8704dc..b01ce4da 100644
--- a/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning.Tests/GitExtensionsTests.cs
+++ b/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning.Tests/LibGit2GitExtensionsTests.cs
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 using System;
+using System.Buffers.Binary;
 using System.Collections.Generic;
 using System.Diagnostics;
 using System.IO;
@@ -11,9 +12,9 @@
 using Xunit.Abstractions;
 using Version = System.Version;
 
-public partial class GitExtensionsTests : RepoTestBase
+public class LibGit2GitExtensionsTests : RepoTestBase
 {
-    public GitExtensionsTests(ITestOutputHelper Logger)
+    public LibGit2GitExtensionsTests(ITestOutputHelper Logger)
         : base(Logger)
     {
         this.InitializeSourceControl();
@@ -166,22 +167,6 @@ public void GetVersionHeight_ProgressAndReset(string version1, string version2,
         Assert.Equal(!versionHeightReset, height2 > height1);
     }
 
-    [Fact]
-    public void GetTruncatedCommitIdAsInteger_Roundtrip()
-    {
-        var firstCommit = this.LibGit2Repository.Commit("First", this.Signer, this.Signer, new CommitOptions { AllowEmptyCommit = true });
-        var secondCommit = this.LibGit2Repository.Commit("Second", this.Signer, this.Signer, new CommitOptions { AllowEmptyCommit = true });
-
-        int id1 = firstCommit.GetTruncatedCommitIdAsInt32();
-        int id2 = secondCommit.GetTruncatedCommitIdAsInt32();
-
-        this.Logger.WriteLine($"Commit {firstCommit.Id.Sha.Substring(0, 8)} as int: {id1}");
-        this.Logger.WriteLine($"Commit {secondCommit.Id.Sha.Substring(0, 8)} as int: {id2}");
-
-        Assert.Equal(firstCommit, this.LibGit2Repository.GetCommitFromTruncatedIdInteger(id1));
-        Assert.Equal(secondCommit, this.LibGit2Repository.GetCommitFromTruncatedIdInteger(id2));
-    }
-
     [Fact]
     public void GetIdAsVersion_ReadsMajorMinorFromVersionTxt()
     {
@@ -384,6 +369,19 @@ public void GetIdAsVersion_Roundtrip_UnstableOffset(int startingOffset, int offs
         }
     }
 
+    [Fact]
+    public void GetCommitsFromVersion_MatchesOnEitherEndian()
+    {
+        this.InitializeSourceControl();
+        Commit commit = this.WriteVersionFile(new VersionOptions { Version = SemanticVersion.Parse("1.2"), GitCommitIdShortAutoMinimum = 4 });
+
+        Version originalVersion = new VersionOracle(this.Context).Version;
+        Version swappedEndian = new Version(originalVersion.Major, originalVersion.Minor, originalVersion.Build, BinaryPrimitives.ReverseEndianness((ushort)originalVersion.Revision));
+        ushort twoBytesFromCommitId = checked((ushort)originalVersion.Revision);
+        Assert.Contains(commit, LibGit2GitExtensions.GetCommitsFromVersion(this.Context, originalVersion));
+        Assert.Contains(commit, LibGit2GitExtensions.GetCommitsFromVersion(this.Context, swappedEndian));
+    }
+
     [Fact]
     public void GetIdAsVersion_Roundtrip_WithSubdirectoryVersionFiles()
     {
diff --git a/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning.Tests/ManagedGit/GitObjectIdTests.cs b/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning.Tests/ManagedGit/GitObjectIdTests.cs
index c06d8f67..baeb4ff7 100644
--- a/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning.Tests/ManagedGit/GitObjectIdTests.cs
+++ b/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning.Tests/ManagedGit/GitObjectIdTests.cs
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ public void AsUInt16Test()
         {
             // The hash code is the int32 representation of the first 4 bytes
             var objectId = GitObjectId.ParseHex(this.shaAsHexAsciiByteArray);
-            Assert.Equal(0x914e, objectId.AsUInt16());
+            Assert.Equal(0x4e91, objectId.AsUInt16());
             Assert.Equal(0, GitObjectId.Empty.GetHashCode());
         }
 
diff --git a/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning.Tests/ReleaseManagerTests.cs b/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning.Tests/ReleaseManagerTests.cs
index c95500bf..fb3e248c 100644
--- a/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning.Tests/ReleaseManagerTests.cs
+++ b/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning.Tests/ReleaseManagerTests.cs
@@ -392,12 +392,30 @@ public void PrepareRelease_MasterWithVersionDecrement(string initialVersion, str
         this.WriteVersionFile(versionOptions);
 
         // running PrepareRelease should result in an error
-        // because we're trying to add a prerelease tag to a version without prerelease tag
+        // because we're setting the version on master to a lower version
         this.AssertError(
             () => new ReleaseManager().PrepareRelease(this.RepoPath, releaseUnstableTag, (nextVersion is null ? null : Version.Parse(nextVersion))),
             ReleasePreparationError.VersionDecrement);
     }
 
+    [Theory]
+    [InlineData("1.2", "1.2")]
+    public void PrepareRelease_MasterWithoutVersionIncrement(string initialVersion, string nextVersion)
+    {
+        // create and configure repository
+        this.InitializeSourceControl();
+
+        // create version.json
+        var versionOptions = new VersionOptions() { Version = SemanticVersion.Parse(initialVersion) };
+        this.WriteVersionFile(versionOptions);
+
+        // running PrepareRelease should result in an error
+        // because we're trying to set master to the version it already has
+        this.AssertError(
+            () => new ReleaseManager().PrepareRelease(this.RepoPath, null, (nextVersion is null ? null : Version.Parse(nextVersion))),
+            ReleasePreparationError.NoVersionIncrement);
+    }
+
     [Fact]
     public void PrepareRelease_DetachedHead()
     {
diff --git a/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning.Tests/TestUtilities.cs b/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning.Tests/TestUtilities.cs
index 6d61fbf1..6ea6efc3 100644
--- a/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning.Tests/TestUtilities.cs
+++ b/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning.Tests/TestUtilities.cs
@@ -79,6 +79,10 @@ internal static ExpandedRepo ExtractRepoArchive(string repoArchiveName)
         }
     }
 
+    internal static string ToHex(ushort number) => number.ToString("X");
+
+    internal static ushort FromHex(string hex) => ushort.Parse(hex, System.Globalization.NumberStyles.HexNumber);
+
     internal class ExpandedRepo : IDisposable
     {
         internal ExpandedRepo(string repoPath)
diff --git a/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning.Tests/VersionOracleTests.cs b/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning.Tests/VersionOracleTests.cs
index 4f10abf1..1e0fc51f 100644
--- a/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning.Tests/VersionOracleTests.cs
+++ b/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning.Tests/VersionOracleTests.cs
@@ -845,6 +845,23 @@ public void GitCommitIdShort()
         }
     }
 
+    [Fact]
+    public void GitCommidIdLeading16BitsDecodedWithBigEndian()
+    {
+        this.WriteVersionFile(new VersionOptions { Version = SemanticVersion.Parse("1.2"), GitCommitIdShortAutoMinimum = 4 });
+        this.InitializeSourceControl();
+        this.AddCommits(1);
+        var oracle = new VersionOracle(this.Context);
+
+        string leadingFourChars = this.Context.GitCommitId.Substring(0, 4);
+        ushort expectedNumber = TestUtilities.FromHex(leadingFourChars);
+        ushort actualNumber = checked((ushort)oracle.Version.Revision);
+        this.Logger.WriteLine("First two characters from commit ID in hex is {0}", leadingFourChars);
+        this.Logger.WriteLine("First two characters, converted to a number is {0}", expectedNumber);
+        this.Logger.WriteLine("Generated 16-bit ushort from commit ID is {0}, whose hex representation is {1}", actualNumber, TestUtilities.ToHex(actualNumber));
+        Assert.Equal(expectedNumber, actualNumber);
+    }
+
     [Fact(Skip = "Slow test")]
     public void GetVersionHeight_VeryLongHistory()
     {
diff --git a/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/CloudBuild.cs b/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/CloudBuild.cs
index c1025aac..e5417145 100644
--- a/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/CloudBuild.cs
+++ b/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/CloudBuild.cs
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ public static class CloudBuild
             new Jenkins(),
             new GitLab(),
             new Travis(),
+            new SpaceAutomation(),
         };
 
         /// <summary>
diff --git a/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/CloudBuildServices/SpaceAutomation.cs b/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/CloudBuildServices/SpaceAutomation.cs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b3d11a0d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/CloudBuildServices/SpaceAutomation.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+using System;
+using System.Collections.Generic;
+using System.IO;
+
+namespace Nerdbank.GitVersioning.CloudBuildServices
+{
+    /// <summary>
+    /// SpaceAutomation CI build support.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// The SpaceAutomation-specific properties referenced here are documented here:
+    /// https://www.jetbrains.com/help/space/automation-environment-variables.html
+    /// </remarks>
+    internal class SpaceAutomation : ICloudBuild
+    {
+        public string BuildingBranch => CloudBuild.IfStartsWith(BuildingRef, "refs/heads/");
+
+        public string BuildingTag => CloudBuild.IfStartsWith(BuildingRef, "refs/tags/");
+
+        public string GitCommitId => Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("JB_SPACE_GIT_REVISION");
+
+        public bool IsApplicable => this.GitCommitId is not null;
+
+        public bool IsPullRequest => false;
+
+        private static string BuildingRef => Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("JB_SPACE_GIT_BRANCH");
+
+        public IReadOnlyDictionary<string, string>  SetCloudBuildNumber(string buildNumber, TextWriter stdout, TextWriter stderr)
+        {
+            return new Dictionary<string, string>();
+        }
+
+        public IReadOnlyDictionary<string, string> SetCloudBuildVariable(string name, string value, TextWriter stdout, TextWriter stderr)
+        {
+            return new Dictionary<string, string>();
+        }
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/CloudBuildServices/TeamCity.cs b/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/CloudBuildServices/TeamCity.cs
index ec0cd84b..828798ee 100644
--- a/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/CloudBuildServices/TeamCity.cs
+++ b/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/CloudBuildServices/TeamCity.cs
@@ -8,8 +8,8 @@
     /// TeamCity CI build support.
     /// </summary>
     /// <remarks>
-    /// The TeamCIty-specific properties referenced here are documented here:
-    /// https://confluence.jetbrains.com/display/TCD8/Predefined+Build+Parameters
+    /// The TeamCity-specific properties referenced here are documented here:
+    /// https://www.jetbrains.com/help/teamcity/predefined-build-parameters.html
     /// </remarks>
     internal class TeamCity : ICloudBuild
     {
diff --git a/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/LibGit2/LibGit2GitExtensions.cs b/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/LibGit2/LibGit2GitExtensions.cs
index 045c647a..b644803f 100644
--- a/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/LibGit2/LibGit2GitExtensions.cs
+++ b/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/LibGit2/LibGit2GitExtensions.cs
@@ -3,8 +3,8 @@
 namespace Nerdbank.GitVersioning.LibGit2
 {
     using System;
+    using System.Buffers.Binary;
     using System.Collections.Generic;
-    using System.Globalization;
     using System.IO;
     using System.Linq;
     using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
@@ -97,18 +97,6 @@ public static int GetHeight(LibGit2Context context, Func<Commit, bool>? continue
             return GetCommitHeight(context.Commit, tracker, continueStepping);
         }
 
-        /// <summary>
-        /// Takes the first 4 bytes of a commit ID (i.e. first 8 characters of its hex-encoded SHA)
-        /// and returns them as an integer.
-        /// </summary>
-        /// <param name="commit">The commit to identify with an integer.</param>
-        /// <returns>The integer which identifies a commit.</returns>
-        public static int GetTruncatedCommitIdAsInt32(this Commit commit)
-        {
-            Requires.NotNull(commit, nameof(commit));
-            return BitConverter.ToInt32(commit.Id.RawId, 0);
-        }
-
         /// <summary>
         /// Takes the first 2 bytes of a commit ID (i.e. first 4 characters of its hex-encoded SHA)
         /// and returns them as an 16-bit unsigned integer.
@@ -118,21 +106,7 @@ public static int GetTruncatedCommitIdAsInt32(this Commit commit)
         public static ushort GetTruncatedCommitIdAsUInt16(this Commit commit)
         {
             Requires.NotNull(commit, nameof(commit));
-            return BitConverter.ToUInt16(commit.Id.RawId, 0);
-        }
-
-        /// <summary>
-        /// Looks up a commit by an integer that captures the first for bytes of its ID.
-        /// </summary>
-        /// <param name="repo">The repo to search for a matching commit.</param>
-        /// <param name="truncatedId">The value returned from <see cref="GetTruncatedCommitIdAsInt32(Commit)"/>.</param>
-        /// <returns>A matching commit.</returns>
-        public static Commit GetCommitFromTruncatedIdInteger(this Repository repo, int truncatedId)
-        {
-            Requires.NotNull(repo, nameof(repo));
-
-            byte[] rawId = BitConverter.GetBytes(truncatedId);
-            return repo.Lookup<Commit>(EncodeAsHex(rawId));
+            return BinaryPrimitives.ReadUInt16BigEndian(commit.Id.RawId);
         }
 
         /// <summary>
@@ -310,7 +284,11 @@ private static bool IsCommitIdMismatch(Version version, VersionOptions versionOp
                     ushort objectIdLeadingValue = (ushort)expectedCommitIdLeadingValue;
                     ushort objectIdMask = (ushort)(objectIdLeadingValue == MaximumBuildNumberOrRevisionComponent ? 0xfffe : 0xffff);
 
-                    return !commit.Id.StartsWith(objectIdLeadingValue, objectIdMask);
+                    // Accept a big endian match or a little endian match.
+                    // Nerdbank.GitVersioning up to v3.4 would produce versions based on the endianness of the CPU it ran on (typically little endian).
+                    // Starting with v3.5, it deterministically used big endian. In order for `nbgv get-commits` to match on versions computed before and after the change,
+                    // we match on either endian setting.
+                    return !(commit.Id.StartsWith(objectIdLeadingValue, bigEndian: true, objectIdMask) || commit.Id.StartsWith(objectIdLeadingValue, bigEndian: false, objectIdMask));
                 }
             }
 
@@ -324,10 +302,11 @@ private static bool IsCommitIdMismatch(Version version, VersionOptions versionOp
         /// <param name="object">The object whose ID is to be tested.</param>
         /// <param name="leadingBytes">The leading 16-bits to be tested.</param>
         /// <param name="bitMask">The mask that indicates which bits should be compared.</param>
+        /// <param name="bigEndian"><see langword="true"/> to read the first two bytes as big endian (v3.5+ behavior); <see langword="false"/> to use little endian (v3.4 and earlier behavior).</param>
         /// <returns><c>True</c> if the object's ID starts with <paramref name="leadingBytes"/> after applying the <paramref name="bitMask"/>.</returns>
-        private static bool StartsWith(this ObjectId @object, ushort leadingBytes, ushort bitMask = 0xffff)
+        private static bool StartsWith(this ObjectId @object, ushort leadingBytes, bool bigEndian, ushort bitMask = 0xffff)
         {
-            ushort truncatedObjectId = BitConverter.ToUInt16(@object.RawId, 0);
+            ushort truncatedObjectId = bigEndian ? BinaryPrimitives.ReadUInt16BigEndian(@object.RawId) : BinaryPrimitives.ReadUInt16LittleEndian(@object.RawId);
             return (truncatedObjectId & bitMask) == leadingBytes;
         }
 
diff --git a/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/ManagedGit/GitObjectId.cs b/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/ManagedGit/GitObjectId.cs
index 76b5d672..3e62f158 100644
--- a/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/ManagedGit/GitObjectId.cs
+++ b/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/ManagedGit/GitObjectId.cs
@@ -167,7 +167,7 @@ public override bool Equals(object? obj)
         /// <returns>
         /// A <see cref="ushort"/> which represents the first two bytes of this <see cref="GitObjectId"/>.
         /// </returns>
-        public ushort AsUInt16() => BinaryPrimitives.ReadUInt16LittleEndian(this.Value.Slice(0, 2));
+        public ushort AsUInt16() => BinaryPrimitives.ReadUInt16BigEndian(this.Value.Slice(0, 2));
 
         /// <summary>
         /// Returns the SHA1 hash of this object.
diff --git a/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/ReleaseManager.cs b/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/ReleaseManager.cs
index a59e4739..6656a73e 100644
--- a/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/ReleaseManager.cs
+++ b/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/ReleaseManager.cs
@@ -47,6 +47,11 @@ public enum ReleasePreparationError
             /// </summary>
             VersionDecrement,
 
+            /// <summary>
+            /// Branch cannot be set to the specified version because the new version is not higher than the current version
+            /// </summary>
+            NoVersionIncrement,
+
             /// <summary>
             /// Cannot create a branch because it already exists
             /// </summary>
@@ -273,6 +278,14 @@ public void PrepareRelease(string projectDirectory, string releaseUnstableTag =
 
             var nextDevVersion = this.GetNextDevVersion(versionOptions, nextVersion, versionIncrement);
 
+            // check if the current version on the current branch is different from the next version
+            // otherwise, both the release branch and the dev branch would have the same version
+            if (versionOptions.Version.Version == nextDevVersion.Version)
+            {
+                this.stderr.WriteLine($"Version on '{originalBranchName}' is already set to next version {nextDevVersion.Version}.");
+                throw new ReleasePreparationException(ReleasePreparationError.NoVersionIncrement);
+            }
+
             // check if the release branch already exists
             if (repository.Branches[releaseBranchName] is not null)
             {
diff --git a/src/nbgv/Program.cs b/src/nbgv/Program.cs
index e9ae5d75..b68a1fef 100644
--- a/src/nbgv/Program.cs
+++ b/src/nbgv/Program.cs
@@ -736,6 +736,7 @@ private static int OnPrepareReleaseCommand(string project, string nextVersion, s
                     case ReleaseManager.ReleasePreparationError.NoVersionFile:
                         return (int)ExitCodes.NoVersionJsonFound;
                     case ReleaseManager.ReleasePreparationError.VersionDecrement:
+                    case ReleaseManager.ReleasePreparationError.NoVersionIncrement:
                         return (int)ExitCodes.InvalidVersionSpec;
                     case ReleaseManager.ReleasePreparationError.BranchAlreadyExists:
                         return (int)ExitCodes.BranchAlreadyExists;
diff --git a/src/nerdbank-gitversioning.npm/yarn.lock b/src/nerdbank-gitversioning.npm/yarn.lock
index 58378eda..c66da78b 100644
--- a/src/nerdbank-gitversioning.npm/yarn.lock
+++ b/src/nerdbank-gitversioning.npm/yarn.lock
@@ -1222,9 +1222,9 @@ homedir-polyfill@^1.0.1:
     parse-passwd "^1.0.0"
 
 hosted-git-info@^2.1.4:
-  version "2.8.8"
-  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/hosted-git-info/-/hosted-git-info-2.8.8.tgz#7539bd4bc1e0e0a895815a2e0262420b12858488"
-  integrity sha512-f/wzC2QaWBs7t9IYqB4T3sR1xviIViXJRJTWBlx2Gf3g0Xi5vI7Yy4koXQ1c9OYDGHN9sBy1DQ2AB8fqZBWhUg==
+  version "2.8.9"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/hosted-git-info/-/hosted-git-info-2.8.9.tgz#dffc0bf9a21c02209090f2aa69429e1414daf3f9"
+  integrity sha512-mxIDAb9Lsm6DoOJ7xH+5+X4y1LU/4Hi50L9C5sIswK3JzULS4bwk1FvjdBgvYR4bzT4tuUQiC15FE2f5HbLvYw==
 
 ignore@^5.1.1:
   version "5.1.4"
@@ -2029,9 +2029,9 @@ path-is-absolute@^1.0.0:
   integrity sha1-F0uSaHNVNP+8es5r9TpanhtcX18=
 
 path-parse@^1.0.6:
-  version "1.0.6"
-  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/path-parse/-/path-parse-1.0.6.tgz#d62dbb5679405d72c4737ec58600e9ddcf06d24c"
-  integrity sha512-GSmOT2EbHrINBf9SR7CDELwlJ8AENk3Qn7OikK4nFYAu3Ote2+JYNVvkpAEQm3/TLNEJFD/xZJjzyxg3KBWOzw==
+  version "1.0.7"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/path-parse/-/path-parse-1.0.7.tgz#fbc114b60ca42b30d9daf5858e4bd68bbedb6735"
+  integrity sha512-LDJzPVEEEPR+y48z93A0Ed0yXb8pAByGWo/k5YYdYgpY2/2EsOsksJrq7lOHxryrVOn1ejG6oAp8ahvOIQD8sw==
 
 path-root-regex@^0.1.0:
   version "0.1.2"
diff --git a/version.json b/version.json
index 4e9d5d3e..f0167361 100644
--- a/version.json
+++ b/version.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "$schema": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dotnet/Nerdbank.GitVersioning/master/src/NerdBank.GitVersioning/version.schema.json",
-  "version": "3.4",
+  "version": "3.5-alpha",
   "assemblyVersion": {
     "precision": "revision"
   },