diff --git a/dist/tools/ci/print_toolchain_versions.sh b/dist/tools/ci/print_toolchain_versions.sh
index 7aa2f6480c..dbb0993ad9 100755
--- a/dist/tools/ci/print_toolchain_versions.sh
+++ b/dist/tools/ci/print_toolchain_versions.sh
@@ -8,6 +8,10 @@ get_cmd_version() {
     local cmd="$1"
     if command -v "$cmd" 2>&1 >/dev/null; then
         ver=$("$cmd" --version 2> /dev/null | head -n 1)
+        # some tools (eg. openocd) print version info to stderr
+        if [ -z "$ver" ]; then
+            ver=$("$cmd" --version 2>&1 | head -n 1)
+        fi
         if [ -z "$ver" ]; then
             ver="error"
         fi