diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index f6f7139a97..5f6be6fb4e 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -72,6 +72,7 @@ OPTION (AUTOTOOLS_IN_DIST "Add autotools support to distribution tarballs." ON)
 
 # These are also settable from the command line in a similar way.
 
+SET(GNUCASH_BUILD_ID "" CACHE STRING "Overrides the GnuCash build identification (Build ID) which defaults to a description of the vcs commit from which gnucash is built. Distributions may want to insert a package management based version number instead")
 SET(BINDIR ${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/bin CACHE STRING "user executables")
 SET(SYSCONFDIR ${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/etc CACHE STRING "read-only single-machine data")
 SET(DATAROOTDIR ${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/share CACHE STRING "read-only arch.-independent data root")
diff --git a/common/config.h.cmake.in b/common/config.h.cmake.in
index fe6ecc9226..34e7e9c348 100644
--- a/common/config.h.cmake.in
+++ b/common/config.h.cmake.in
@@ -49,6 +49,11 @@
 /* Don't use deprecated gnome functions */
 #cmakedefine GNOME_DISABLE_DEPRECATED
 
+/* GnuCash build identification, which defaults to a description of the vcs
+   commit from which gnucash is built. Distributions may want to insert a
+   package management based version string instead. */
+#define GNUCASH_BUILD_ID "@GNUCASH_BUILD_ID@"
+
 /* Most recent stable GnuCash series */
 #define GNUCASH_LATEST_STABLE_SERIES "@GNUCASH_LATEST_STABLE_SERIES@"
 
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index fcf0a37885..6592592972 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -96,6 +96,14 @@ AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED(GNUCASH_RESAVE_VERSION, $GNUCASH_RESAVE_VERSION,
 AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED(GNUCASH_LATEST_STABLE_SERIES, "$GNUCASH_LATEST_STABLE_SERIES",
     [Most recent stable GnuCash series])
 
+AC_ARG_VAR([GNUCASH_BUILD_ID],[Overrides the GnuCash build identification (Build ID) which defaults
+to a description of the vcs commit from which gnucash is built. Distributions may want to insert a package
+management based version number instead])
+AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED(GNUCASH_BUILD_ID, "$GNUCASH_BUILD_ID",
+                   [GnuCash build identification, which defaults
+                   to a description of the vcs commit from which gnucash is built. Distributions may want
+                   to insert a package management based version string instead.])
+
 dnl Set of available languages:
 dnl managed at the Translation Project:
 TP_LINGUAS="az ca cs da eu fa ja nl rw sk sr sv tr uk zh_CN"
diff --git a/gnucash/gnome-utils/gnc-main-window.c b/gnucash/gnome-utils/gnc-main-window.c
index 6944fcda64..ea67b82ed7 100644
--- a/gnucash/gnome-utils/gnc-main-window.c
+++ b/gnucash/gnome-utils/gnc-main-window.c
@@ -4476,14 +4476,20 @@ gnc_main_window_cmd_help_about (GtkAction *action, GncMainWindow *window)
                                                     GTK_ICON_LOOKUP_USE_BUILTIN,
                                                     NULL);
 
-
 #ifdef GNC_VCS
         vcs = GNC_VCS " ";
 #else
         vcs = "";
 #endif
-        version = g_strdup_printf ("%s: %s\n%s: %s%s (%s)", _("Version"), VERSION,
-                                   _("Build ID"), vcs, GNC_VCS_REV, GNC_VCS_REV_DATE);
+
+        /* Allow builder to override the build id (eg distributions may want to
+         * print an package source version number (rpm, dpkg,...) instead of our git ref */
+        if (g_strcmp0("", GNUCASH_BUILD_ID) != 0)
+            version = g_strdup_printf ("%s: %s\n%s: %s", _("Version"), VERSION,
+                                       _("Build ID"), GNUCASH_BUILD_ID);
+        else
+            version = g_strdup_printf ("%s: %s\n%s: %s%s (%s)", _("Version"), VERSION,
+                                       _("Build ID"), vcs, GNC_VCS_REV, GNC_VCS_REV_DATE);
 	priv->about_dialog = gtk_about_dialog_new ();
 	g_object_set (priv->about_dialog,
 		      "authors", authors,
diff --git a/gnucash/gnome-utils/gnc-splash.c b/gnucash/gnome-utils/gnc-splash.c
index d8c63783ce..1cb20b36d0 100644
--- a/gnucash/gnome-utils/gnc-splash.c
+++ b/gnucash/gnome-utils/gnc-splash.c
@@ -93,14 +93,22 @@ gnc_show_splash_screen (void)
     gtk_box_set_homogeneous (GTK_BOX (vbox), FALSE);
     hbox = gtk_box_new (GTK_ORIENTATION_HORIZONTAL, 3);
     gtk_box_set_homogeneous (GTK_BOX (hbox), FALSE);
+
 #ifdef GNC_VCS
     vcs = GNC_VCS " ";
 #else
     vcs = "";
 #endif
-    ver_string = g_strdup_printf("%s: %s, %s: %s%s (%s)", _("Version"),
-                                 VERSION, _("Build ID"), vcs, GNC_VCS_REV,
-                                 GNC_VCS_REV_DATE);
+
+    /* Allow builder to override the build id (eg distributions may want to
+     * print an package source version number (rpm, dpkg,...) instead of our git ref */
+    if (g_strcmp0("", GNUCASH_BUILD_ID) != 0)
+        ver_string = g_strdup_printf("%s: %s, %s: %s", _("Version"),
+                                     VERSION, _("Build ID"), GNUCASH_BUILD_ID);
+    else
+        ver_string = g_strdup_printf("%s: %s, %s: %s%s (%s)", _("Version"),
+                                     VERSION, _("Build ID"), vcs, GNC_VCS_REV,
+                                     GNC_VCS_REV_DATE);
 
     version = gtk_label_new(NULL);
     markup = g_markup_printf_escaped(MARKUP_STRING, ver_string);
diff --git a/gnucash/gnucash-bin.c b/gnucash/gnucash-bin.c
index fb3094adb0..1569a416d1 100644
--- a/gnucash/gnucash-bin.c
+++ b/gnucash/gnucash-bin.c
@@ -452,8 +452,15 @@ gnc_parse_command_line(int *argc, char ***argv)
 #else
         vcs = "";
 #endif
-        g_print ("\n%s: %s%s (%s)\n",
-                 _("Build ID"), vcs, GNC_VCS_REV, GNC_VCS_REV_DATE);
+
+        /* Allow builder to override the build id (eg distributions may want to
+         * print an package source version number (rpm, dpkg,...) instead of our git ref */
+        if (g_strcmp0("", GNUCASH_BUILD_ID) != 0)
+            g_print ("\n%s: %s\n",
+                     _("Build ID"), GNUCASH_BUILD_ID);
+        else
+            g_print ("\n%s: %s%s (%s)\n",
+                     _("Build ID"), vcs, GNC_VCS_REV, GNC_VCS_REV_DATE);
         exit(0);
     }