diff --git a/macros.forge b/macros.forge
index 1bec610..18e9dba 100644
--- a/macros.forge
+++ b/macros.forge
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 #   Version   if applicable, set it with Version: <version>
 #   tag       if applicable
 #   commit    if applicable
+#   date      if applicable (to override the mtime of the Source archive)
 #
 # The macro will attempt to compute and set the following variables if they are
 # not already set by the packager:
@@ -255,7 +256,7 @@ if (distprefix == "") then
   distprefix = string.sub(rpm.expand("%{?commit}"), 1, 7)
 end
 if (distprefix ~= "") then
-  local dist = ".%([ -r %{_sourcedir}/%{archivename}.%{archiveext} ] && date +%Y%m%d -u -r %{_sourcedir}/%{archivename}.%{archiveext})%{scm}" .. string.gsub(distprefix, "-",".") .. rpm.expand("%{?dist}")
+  local dist = ".%{?date}%{!?date:%([ -r %{_sourcedir}/%{archivename}.%{archiveext} ] && date +%Y%m%d -u -r %{_sourcedir}/%{archivename}.%{archiveext})}%{scm}" .. string.gsub(distprefix, "-",".") .. rpm.expand("%{?dist}")
   explicitset("dist", dist)
 end
 -- Final spec variable summary if the macro was called with -i
@@ -271,7 +272,7 @@ if informative then
   rpm.expand("%{echo:  scm:             %{?scm}\\n}")
   rpm.expand("%{echo:  tag:             %{?tag}\\n}")
   rpm.expand("%{echo:  commit:          %{?commit}\\n}")
-  rpm.expand("%{echo:  dist:            %{?dist} (snapshot date is computed once %%{_sourcedir}/%%{archivename}.%%{archiveext} is available)\\n}")
+  rpm.expand("%{echo:  dist:            %{?dist} (snapshot date is either manually supplied or computed once %%{_sourcedir}/%%{archivename}.%%{archiveext} is available)\\n}")
 end
 }
 
diff --git a/redhat-rpm-config.spec b/redhat-rpm-config.spec
index 14a7cb8..478c464 100644
--- a/redhat-rpm-config.spec
+++ b/redhat-rpm-config.spec
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 
 Summary: Red Hat specific rpm configuration files
 Name: redhat-rpm-config
-Version: 78
+Version: 79
 Release: 1%{?dist}
 # No version specified.
 License: GPL+
@@ -149,6 +149,9 @@ install -p -m 755 -t %{buildroot}%{_rpmconfigdir} kmod.prov
 %{_rpmconfigdir}/macros.d/macros.kmp
 
 %changelog
+* Fri Aug 31 2018 Fabio Valentini <decathorpe@gmail.com> - 79-1
+- Allow overriding the date in forge's dist macro.
+
 * Fri Apr 20 2018 Jason L Tibbitts III <tibbs@math.uh.edu> - 78-1
 - Add %%_metainfodir macro.
 - %%forgeautosetup tweak to fix patch application.