diff --git a/Documentation/Makefile b/Documentation/Makefile
index 3392e1ce7e..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
@@ -211,12 +215,10 @@ XMLTO_EXTRA += --skip-validation
 XMLTO_EXTRA += -x manpage.xsl
 
 asciidoctor-extensions.rb: asciidoctor-extensions.rb.in FORCE
-	$(QUIET_GEN)GIT_USER_AGENT="$(GIT_USER_AGENT)" $(SHELL_PATH) ../GIT-VERSION-GEN "$(shell pwd)/.." $< $@+
-	@if cmp $@+ $@ >/dev/null 2>&1; then $(RM) $@+; else mv $@+ $@; fi
+	$(QUIET_GEN)$(call version_gen,"$(shell pwd)/..",$<,$@)
 else
 asciidoc.conf: asciidoc.conf.in FORCE
-	$(QUIET_GEN)GIT_USER_AGENT="$(GIT_USER_AGENT)" $(SHELL_PATH) ../GIT-VERSION-GEN "$(shell pwd)/.." $< $@+
-	@if cmp $@+ $@ >/dev/null 2>&1; then $(RM) $@+; else mv $@+ $@; fi
+	$(QUIET_GEN)$(call version_gen,"$(shell pwd)/..",$<,$@)
 endif
 
 ASCIIDOC_DEPS += docinfo.html
@@ -276,13 +278,6 @@ install-pdf: pdf
 install-html: html
 	'$(SHELL_PATH_SQ)' ./install-webdoc.sh $(DESTDIR)$(htmldir)
 
-../GIT-VERSION-FILE: FORCE
-	$(QUIET_SUBDIR0)../ $(QUIET_SUBDIR1) GIT-VERSION-FILE
-
-ifneq ($(filter-out lint-docs clean,$(MAKECMDGOALS)),)
--include ../GIT-VERSION-FILE
-endif
-
 mergetools_txt = mergetools-diff.txt mergetools-merge.txt
 
 #
diff --git a/Documentation/meson.build b/Documentation/meson.build
index f2426ccaa3..fca3eab1f1 100644
--- a/Documentation/meson.build
+++ b/Documentation/meson.build
@@ -219,6 +219,7 @@ asciidoc_conf = custom_target(
   input: meson.current_source_dir() / 'asciidoc.conf.in',
   output: 'asciidoc.conf',
   depends: [git_version_file],
+  env: version_gen_environment,
 )
 
 asciidoc_common_options = [
diff --git a/GIT-VERSION-GEN b/GIT-VERSION-GEN
index de0e63bdfb..497b4e48d2 100755
--- a/GIT-VERSION-GEN
+++ b/GIT-VERSION-GEN
@@ -27,33 +27,45 @@ 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
+
+if test -z "$GIT_BUILT_FROM_COMMIT"
+then
+	GIT_BUILT_FROM_COMMIT=$(git -C "$SOURCE_DIR" rev-parse -q --verify HEAD 2>/dev/null)
+fi
+
+if test -z "$GIT_DATE"
+then
+	GIT_DATE=$(git -C "$SOURCE_DIR" show --quiet --format='%as' 2>/dev/null)
 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 "$GIT_USER_AGENT"
 then
 	GIT_USER_AGENT="git/$GIT_VERSION"
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 79739a13d2..3cdd2278fd 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -591,13 +591,6 @@ include shared.mak
 #
 #        Disable -pedantic compilation.
 
-GIT-VERSION-FILE: FORCE
-	@OLD=$$(cat $@ 2>/dev/null || :) && \
-	$(SHELL_PATH) ./GIT-VERSION-GEN "$(shell pwd)" GIT-VERSION-FILE.in $@ && \
-	NEW=$$(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) $(SCRIPTS)
@@ -2512,8 +2517,7 @@ pager.sp pager.s pager.o: EXTRA_CPPFLAGS = \
 	-DPAGER_ENV='$(PAGER_ENV_CQ_SQ)'
 
 version-def.h: version-def.h.in GIT-VERSION-GEN GIT-VERSION-FILE GIT-USER-AGENT
-	$(QUIET_GEN)GIT_USER_AGENT="$(GIT_USER_AGENT)" $(SHELL_PATH) ./GIT-VERSION-GEN "$(shell pwd)" $< $@+
-	@if cmp $@+ $@ >/dev/null 2>&1; then $(RM) $@+; else mv $@+ $@; fi
+	$(QUIET_GEN)$(call version_gen,"$(shell pwd)",$<,$@)
 
 version.sp version.s version.o: version-def.h
 
@@ -2554,8 +2558,7 @@ $(SCRIPT_SH_GEN) $(SCRIPT_LIB) : % : %.sh generate-script.sh GIT-BUILD-OPTIONS G
 	mv $@+ $@
 
 git.rc: git.rc.in GIT-VERSION-GEN GIT-VERSION-FILE
-	$(QUIET_GEN)$(SHELL_PATH) ./GIT-VERSION-GEN "$(shell pwd)" $< $@+
-	@if cmp $@+ $@ >/dev/null 2>&1; then $(RM) $@+; else mv $@+ $@; fi
+	$(QUIET_GEN)$(call version_gen,"$(shell pwd)",$<,$@)
 
 git.res: git.rc GIT-PREFIX
 	$(QUIET_RC)$(RC) -i $< -o $@
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 0dccebcdf1..be32d60e84 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -201,6 +201,16 @@ if get_option('sane_tool_path') != ''
   script_environment.prepend('PATH', get_option('sane_tool_path'))
 endif
 
+# The environment used by GIT-VERSION-GEN. Note that we explicitly override
+# environment variables that might be set by the user. This is by design so
+# that we always use whatever Meson has configured instead of what is present
+# in the environment.
+version_gen_environment = script_environment
+version_gen_environment.set('GIT_BUILT_FROM_COMMIT', get_option('built_from_commit'))
+version_gen_environment.set('GIT_DATE', get_option('build_date'))
+version_gen_environment.set('GIT_USER_AGENT', get_option('user_agent'))
+version_gen_environment.set('GIT_VERSION', get_option('version'))
+
 compiler = meson.get_compiler('c')
 
 libgit_sources = [
@@ -1485,6 +1495,7 @@ git_version_file = custom_target(
   ],
   input: meson.current_source_dir() / 'GIT-VERSION-FILE.in',
   output: 'GIT-VERSION-FILE',
+  env: version_gen_environment,
   build_always_stale: true,
 )
 
@@ -1501,6 +1512,7 @@ version_def_h = custom_target(
   # Depend on GIT-VERSION-FILE so that we don't always try to rebuild this
   # target for the same commit.
   depends: [git_version_file],
+  env: version_gen_environment,
 )
 
 # Build a separate library for "version.c" so that we do not have to rebuild
@@ -1544,6 +1556,7 @@ if host_machine.system() == 'windows'
     input: meson.current_source_dir() / 'git.rc.in',
     output: 'git.rc',
     depends: [git_version_file],
+    env: version_gen_environment,
   )
 
   common_main_sources += import('windows').compile_resources(git_rc,
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index 32a72139ba..8ead134955 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -16,6 +16,16 @@ option('runtime_prefix', type: 'boolean', value: false,
 option('sane_tool_path', type: 'string', value: '',
   description: 'A colon-separated list of paths to prepend to PATH if your tools in /usr/bin are broken.')
 
+# Build information compiled into Git and other parts like documentation.
+option('build_date', type: 'string', value: '',
+  description: 'Build date reported by our documentation.')
+option('built_from_commit', type: 'string', value: '',
+  description: 'Commit that Git was built from reported by git-version(1).')
+option('user_agent', type: 'string', value: '',
+  description: 'User agent reported to remote servers.')
+option('version', type: 'string', value: '',
+  description: 'Version string reported by git-version(1) and other tools.')
+
 # Features supported by Git.
 option('curl', type: 'feature', value: 'enabled',
   description: 'Build helpers used to access remotes with the HTTP transport.')
diff --git a/shared.mak b/shared.mak
index 29bebd30d8..1a99848a95 100644
--- a/shared.mak
+++ b/shared.mak
@@ -116,3 +116,14 @@ endef
 define libpath_template
 -L$(1) $(if $(filter-out -L,$(CC_LD_DYNPATH)),$(CC_LD_DYNPATH)$(1))
 endef
+
+# Populate build information into a file via GIT-VERSION-GEN. Requires the
+# absolute path to the root source directory as well as input and output files
+# as arguments, in that order.
+define version_gen
+GIT_BUILT_FROM_COMMIT="$(GIT_BUILT_FROM_COMMIT)" \
+GIT_DATE="$(GIT_DATE)" \
+GIT_USER_AGENT="$(GIT_USER_AGENT)" \
+GIT_VERSION="$(GIT_VERSION_OVERRIDE)" \
+$(SHELL_PATH) "$(1)/GIT-VERSION-GEN" "$(1)" "$(2)" "$(3)"
+endef