diff --git a/GNUmakefile.in b/GNUmakefile.in
index 30553b2a95..9e41794f60 100644
--- a/GNUmakefile.in
+++ b/GNUmakefile.in
@@ -87,6 +87,9 @@ update-unicode: | submake-generated-headers submake-libpgport
 distdir	= postgresql-$(VERSION)
 dummy	= =install=
 
+# git revision to be packaged
+PG_GIT_REVISION ?= HEAD
+
 GIT = git
 
 dist: $(distdir).tar.gz $(distdir).tar.bz2
@@ -102,10 +105,10 @@ distdir-location:
 # on, Unix machines.
 
 $(distdir).tar.gz:
-	$(GIT) -C $(srcdir) -c core.autocrlf=false archive --format tar.gz -9 --prefix $(distdir)/ HEAD -o $(abs_top_builddir)/$@
+	$(GIT) -C $(srcdir) -c core.autocrlf=false archive --format tar.gz -9 --prefix $(distdir)/ $(PG_GIT_REVISION) -o $(abs_top_builddir)/$@
 
 $(distdir).tar.bz2:
-	$(GIT) -C $(srcdir) -c core.autocrlf=false -c tar.tar.bz2.command='$(BZIP2) -c' archive --format tar.bz2 --prefix $(distdir)/ HEAD -o $(abs_top_builddir)/$@
+	$(GIT) -C $(srcdir) -c core.autocrlf=false -c tar.tar.bz2.command='$(BZIP2) -c' archive --format tar.bz2 --prefix $(distdir)/ $(PG_GIT_REVISION) -o $(abs_top_builddir)/$@
 
 distcheck: dist
 	rm -rf $(dummy)
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index cdfd31377d..1c0579d5a6 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -3469,6 +3469,8 @@ bzip2 = find_program('bzip2', required: false, native: true)
 
 distdir = meson.project_name() + '-' + meson.project_version()
 
+pg_git_revision = get_option('PG_GIT_REVISION')
+
 # Note: core.autocrlf=false is needed to avoid line-ending conversion
 # in case the environment has a different setting.  Without this, a
 # tarball created on Windows might be different than on, and unusable
@@ -3483,7 +3485,7 @@ tar_gz = custom_target('tar.gz',
             '-9',
             '--prefix', distdir + '/',
             '-o', join_paths(meson.build_root(), '@OUTPUT@'),
-            'HEAD', '.'],
+            pg_git_revision],
   output: distdir + '.tar.gz',
 )
 
@@ -3497,7 +3499,7 @@ if bzip2.found()
               '--format', 'tar.bz2',
               '--prefix', distdir + '/',
               '-o', join_paths(meson.build_root(), '@OUTPUT@'),
-              'HEAD', '.'],
+              pg_git_revision],
     output: distdir + '.tar.bz2',
   )
 else
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index 249ecc5ffd..246cecf382 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -55,6 +55,9 @@ option('atomics', type: 'boolean', value: true,
 option('spinlocks', type: 'boolean', value: true,
   description: 'Use spinlocks')
 
+option('PG_GIT_REVISION', type: 'string', value: 'HEAD',
+  description: 'git revision to be packaged by pgdist target')
+
 
 # Compilation options