diff --git a/src/main/java/run/halo/app/listener/StartedListener.java b/src/main/java/run/halo/app/listener/StartedListener.java
index ca8b8f11e1..c9987f5d53 100644
--- a/src/main/java/run/halo/app/listener/StartedListener.java
+++ b/src/main/java/run/halo/app/listener/StartedListener.java
@@ -74,7 +74,6 @@ public void onApplicationEvent(ApplicationStartedEvent event) {
 
     private void printStartInfo() {
         String blogUrl = optionService.getBlogBaseUrl();
-
         log.info(AnsiOutput.toString(AnsiColor.BRIGHT_BLUE, "Halo started at         ", blogUrl));
         log.info(AnsiOutput.toString(AnsiColor.BRIGHT_BLUE, "Halo admin started at   ", blogUrl, "/", haloProperties.getAdminPath()));
         if (!haloProperties.isDocDisabled()) {
@@ -149,7 +148,7 @@ private void initThemes() {
                 log.debug("Skipped copying theme folder due to existence of theme folder");
             }
         } catch (Exception e) {
-            throw new RuntimeException("Initialize internal theme to user path error", e);
+            log.error("Initialize internal theme to user path error!", e);
         }
     }
 
@@ -188,7 +187,6 @@ private void initDirectory() {
                 Files.createDirectories(dataExportPath);
                 log.info("Created data export directory: [{}]", dataExportPath);
             }
-
         } catch (IOException ie) {
             throw new RuntimeException("Failed to initialize directories", ie);
         }
diff --git a/src/main/java/run/halo/app/model/support/HaloConst.java b/src/main/java/run/halo/app/model/support/HaloConst.java
index 7ab107abb1..0cd8832926 100644
--- a/src/main/java/run/halo/app/model/support/HaloConst.java
+++ b/src/main/java/run/halo/app/model/support/HaloConst.java
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 import org.springframework.http.HttpHeaders;
 
 import java.io.File;
+import java.util.Optional;
 
 /**
  * <pre>
@@ -139,6 +140,12 @@ public class HaloConst {
      * Version constant. (Available in production environment)
      */
     public static final String HALO_VERSION;
+
+    /**
+     * Unknown version: unknown
+     */
+    public static final String UNKNOWN_VERSION = "unknown";
+
     /**
      * Database product name.
      */
@@ -150,6 +157,6 @@ public class HaloConst {
 
     static {
         // Set version
-        HALO_VERSION = HaloConst.class.getPackage().getImplementationVersion();
+        HALO_VERSION = Optional.ofNullable(HaloConst.class.getPackage().getImplementationVersion()).orElse(UNKNOWN_VERSION);
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/run/halo/app/utils/VersionUtil.java b/src/main/java/run/halo/app/utils/VersionUtil.java
index 659922f96f..fa54c49c30 100644
--- a/src/main/java/run/halo/app/utils/VersionUtil.java
+++ b/src/main/java/run/halo/app/utils/VersionUtil.java
@@ -1,43 +1,63 @@
 package run.halo.app.utils;
 
-import cn.hutool.core.util.StrUtil;
+import lombok.extern.slf4j.Slf4j;
+import org.springframework.util.Assert;
+import run.halo.app.model.support.HaloConst;
 
+import java.util.Objects;
 import java.util.StringTokenizer;
 
 /**
  * @author ryanwang
  * @date 2020-02-03
- * @see com.sun.xml.internal.ws.util.VersionUtil
+ * @see "com.sun.xml.internal.ws.util.VersionUtil"
  */
+@Slf4j
 public class VersionUtil {
 
-    public VersionUtil() {
+    private static final String UNDERLINE = "_";
+
+    private VersionUtil() {
     }
 
     public static int[] getCanonicalVersion(String version) {
+        Assert.hasText(version, "Version must not be blank");
+
+        if (Objects.equals(version, HaloConst.UNKNOWN_VERSION)) {
+            log.warn("Unknown version will be converted to {}.{}.{}.{}",
+                Integer.MAX_VALUE,
+                Integer.MAX_VALUE,
+                Integer.MAX_VALUE,
+                Integer.MAX_VALUE);
+            return new int[] {Integer.MAX_VALUE,
+                Integer.MAX_VALUE,
+                Integer.MAX_VALUE,
+                Integer.MAX_VALUE};
+        }
+
         int[] canonicalVersion = new int[] {1, 1, 0, 0};
         StringTokenizer tokenizer = new StringTokenizer(version, ".");
         String token = tokenizer.nextToken();
         canonicalVersion[0] = Integer.parseInt(token);
         token = tokenizer.nextToken();
         StringTokenizer subTokenizer;
-        if (!token.contains(StrUtil.UNDERLINE)) {
+        if (!token.contains(UNDERLINE)) {
             canonicalVersion[1] = Integer.parseInt(token);
         } else {
-            subTokenizer = new StringTokenizer(token, "_");
+            subTokenizer = new StringTokenizer(token, UNDERLINE);
             canonicalVersion[1] = Integer.parseInt(subTokenizer.nextToken());
             canonicalVersion[3] = Integer.parseInt(subTokenizer.nextToken());
         }
 
         if (tokenizer.hasMoreTokens()) {
             token = tokenizer.nextToken();
-            if (!token.contains(StrUtil.UNDERLINE)) {
+            if (!token.contains(UNDERLINE)) {
                 canonicalVersion[2] = Integer.parseInt(token);
                 if (tokenizer.hasMoreTokens()) {
                     canonicalVersion[3] = Integer.parseInt(tokenizer.nextToken());
                 }
             } else {
-                subTokenizer = new StringTokenizer(token, "_");
+                subTokenizer = new StringTokenizer(token, UNDERLINE);
                 canonicalVersion[2] = Integer.parseInt(subTokenizer.nextToken());
                 canonicalVersion[3] = Integer.parseInt(subTokenizer.nextToken());
             }
@@ -47,6 +67,8 @@ public static int[] getCanonicalVersion(String version) {
     }
 
     public static int compare(String version1, String version2) {
+        log.debug("Comparing version [{}] with [{}]", version1, version2);
+
         int[] canonicalVersion1 = getCanonicalVersion(version1);
         int[] canonicalVersion2 = getCanonicalVersion(version2);
         if (canonicalVersion1[0] < canonicalVersion2[0]) {
diff --git a/src/test/java/run/halo/app/utils/VersionUtilTest.java b/src/test/java/run/halo/app/utils/VersionUtilTest.java
index b0323d2085..36cd846046 100644
--- a/src/test/java/run/halo/app/utils/VersionUtilTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/run/halo/app/utils/VersionUtilTest.java
@@ -1,26 +1,45 @@
 package run.halo.app.utils;
 
-import org.junit.Assert;
-import org.junit.Test;
+import org.apache.commons.lang3.RandomStringUtils;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+import run.halo.app.model.support.HaloConst;
+
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.*;
 
 /**
  * @author ryanwang
  * @date 2020-02-03
  */
-public class VersionUtilTest {
+class VersionUtilTest {
 
     @Test
-    public void compareVersion() {
-        Assert.assertTrue(VersionUtil.compareVersion("1.2.0", "1.1.1"));
-
-        Assert.assertTrue(VersionUtil.compareVersion("1.2.1", "1.2.0"));
-
-        Assert.assertTrue(VersionUtil.compareVersion("1.2.0", "1.1.1.0"));
-
-        Assert.assertTrue(VersionUtil.compareVersion("1.2.0", "0.4.4"));
+    void compareVersion() {
+        assertTrue(VersionUtil.compareVersion("1.2.0", "1.1.1"));
+        assertTrue(VersionUtil.compareVersion("1.2.1", "1.2.0"));
+        assertTrue(VersionUtil.compareVersion("1.2.0", "1.1.1.0"));
+        assertTrue(VersionUtil.compareVersion("1.2.0", "0.4.4"));
+        assertFalse(VersionUtil.compareVersion("1.1.1", "1.2.0"));
+        assertFalse(VersionUtil.compareVersion("0.0.1", "1.2.0"));
+    }
 
-        Assert.assertFalse(VersionUtil.compareVersion("1.1.1", "1.2.0"));
+    @Test
+    void unknownVersionCompareTest() {
+        // build a random version
+        String randomVersion = String.join(".",
+            RandomStringUtils.randomNumeric(1),
+            RandomStringUtils.randomNumeric(2),
+            RandomStringUtils.randomNumeric(3));
+        VersionUtil.compareVersion(HaloConst.UNKNOWN_VERSION, randomVersion);
+    }
 
-        Assert.assertFalse(VersionUtil.compareVersion("0.0.1", "1.2.0"));
+    @Test
+    void unknownOrEmptyCanonicalVersionTest() {
+        assertThrows(IllegalArgumentException.class, () -> VersionUtil.getCanonicalVersion(null));
+        int[] version = VersionUtil.getCanonicalVersion(HaloConst.UNKNOWN_VERSION);
+        assertNotNull(version);
+        assertEquals(4, version.length);
+        for (int v : version) {
+            assertEquals(Integer.MAX_VALUE, v);
+        }
     }
 }
\ No newline at end of file