diff --git a/Documentation/Makefile b/Documentation/Makefile
index ff30ab6c42..a89823e1d1 100644
--- a/Documentation/Makefile
+++ b/Documentation/Makefile
@@ -181,6 +181,10 @@ endif
 -include ../config.mak.autogen
 -include ../config.mak
 
+# Set GIT_VERSION_OVERRIDE such that version_gen knows to substitute
+# GIT_VERSION in case it was set by the user.
+GIT_VERSION_OVERRIDE := $(GIT_VERSION)
+
 ifndef NO_MAN_BOLD_LITERAL
 XMLTO_EXTRA += -m manpage-bold-literal.xsl
 endif
diff --git a/GIT-VERSION-GEN b/GIT-VERSION-GEN
index b4687784c1..2fee5e7e80 100755
--- a/GIT-VERSION-GEN
+++ b/GIT-VERSION-GEN
@@ -27,31 +27,35 @@ fi
 GIT_CEILING_DIRECTORIES="$SOURCE_DIR/.."
 export GIT_CEILING_DIRECTORIES
 
-# First see if there is a version file (included in release tarballs),
-# then try git-describe, then default.
-if test -f "$SOURCE_DIR"/version
+if test -z "$GIT_VERSION"
 then
-	VN=$(cat "$SOURCE_DIR"/version) || VN="$DEF_VER"
-elif {
-		test -d "$SOURCE_DIR/.git" ||
-		test -d "${GIT_DIR:-.git}" ||
-		test -f "$SOURCE_DIR"/.git;
-	} &&
-	VN=$(git -C "$SOURCE_DIR" describe --match "v[0-9]*" HEAD 2>/dev/null) &&
-	case "$VN" in
-	*$LF*) (exit 1) ;;
-	v[0-9]*)
-		git -C "$SOURCE_DIR" update-index -q --refresh
-		test -z "$(git -C "$SOURCE_DIR" diff-index --name-only HEAD --)" ||
-		VN="$VN-dirty" ;;
-	esac
-then
-	VN=$(echo "$VN" | sed -e 's/-/./g');
-else
-	VN="$DEF_VER"
+	# First see if there is a version file (included in release tarballs),
+	# then try git-describe, then default.
+	if test -f "$SOURCE_DIR"/version
+	then
+		VN=$(cat "$SOURCE_DIR"/version) || VN="$DEF_VER"
+	elif {
+			test -d "$SOURCE_DIR/.git" ||
+			test -d "${GIT_DIR:-.git}" ||
+			test -f "$SOURCE_DIR"/.git;
+		} &&
+		VN=$(git -C "$SOURCE_DIR" describe --match "v[0-9]*" HEAD 2>/dev/null) &&
+		case "$VN" in
+		*$LF*) (exit 1) ;;
+		v[0-9]*)
+			git -C "$SOURCE_DIR" update-index -q --refresh
+			test -z "$(git -C "$SOURCE_DIR" diff-index --name-only HEAD --)" ||
+			VN="$VN-dirty" ;;
+		esac
+	then
+		VN=$(echo "$VN" | sed -e 's/-/./g');
+	else
+		VN="$DEF_VER"
+	fi
+
+	GIT_VERSION=$(expr "$VN" : v*'\(.*\)')
 fi
 
-GIT_VERSION=$(expr "$VN" : v*'\(.*\)')
 GIT_BUILT_FROM_COMMIT=$(git -C "$SOURCE_DIR" rev-parse -q --verify HEAD 2>/dev/null)
 GIT_DATE=$(git -C "$SOURCE_DIR" show --quiet --format='%as' 2>/dev/null)
 if test -z "$GIT_USER_AGENT"
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index c6973a720a..5e14da0ae6 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -591,13 +591,6 @@ include shared.mak
 #
 #        Disable -pedantic compilation.
 
-GIT-VERSION-FILE: FORCE
-	@OLD=$$(cat $@ 2>/dev/null || :) && \
-	$(call version_gen,"$(shell pwd)",GIT-VERSION-FILE.in,$@) && \
-	NEW=$$(cat $@ 2>/dev/null || :) && \
-	if test "$$OLD" != "$$NEW"; then echo "$$NEW" >&2; fi
--include GIT-VERSION-FILE
-
 # Set our default configuration.
 #
 # Among the variables below, these:
@@ -1465,6 +1458,18 @@ ifdef DEVELOPER
 include config.mak.dev
 endif
 
+GIT-VERSION-FILE: FORCE
+	@OLD=$$(cat $@ 2>/dev/null || :) && \
+	$(call version_gen,"$(shell pwd)",GIT-VERSION-FILE.in,$@) && \
+	NEW=$$(cat $@ 2>/dev/null || :) && \
+	if test "$$OLD" != "$$NEW"; then echo "$$NEW" >&2; fi
+
+# We need to set GIT_VERSION_OVERRIDE before including the version file as
+# otherwise any user-provided value for GIT_VERSION would have been overridden
+# already.
+GIT_VERSION_OVERRIDE := $(GIT_VERSION)
+-include GIT-VERSION-FILE
+
 # what 'all' will build and 'install' will install in gitexecdir,
 # excluding programs for built-in commands
 ALL_PROGRAMS = $(PROGRAMS) $(SCRIPTS)
diff --git a/shared.mak b/shared.mak
index b23c5505c9..a66f46969e 100644
--- a/shared.mak
+++ b/shared.mak
@@ -122,5 +122,6 @@ endef
 # as arguments, in that order.
 define version_gen
 GIT_USER_AGENT="$(GIT_USER_AGENT)" \
+GIT_VERSION="$(GIT_VERSION_OVERRIDE)" \
 $(SHELL_PATH) "$(1)/GIT-VERSION-GEN" "$(1)" "$(2)" "$(3)"
 endef