diff --git a/pkg/pkg.mk b/pkg/pkg.mk
index 24b7161442b3dafd960310906a31e68ff6742389..076bf45cbfb0c65119cb38d8a41ad5c205c7be8a 100644
--- a/pkg/pkg.mk
+++ b/pkg/pkg.mk
@@ -19,12 +19,13 @@ else
 git-download: $(PKG_BUILDDIR)/.git-downloaded
 endif
 
+GITFLAGS ?= -c user.email=buildsystem@riot -c user.name="RIOT buildsystem"
 GITAMFLAGS ?= --no-gpg-sign --ignore-whitespace
 
 ifneq (,$(wildcard $(PKG_DIR)/patches))
 $(PKG_BUILDDIR)/.git-patched: $(PKG_BUILDDIR)/.git-downloaded $(PKG_DIR)/Makefile $(PKG_DIR)/patches/*.patch
 	git -C $(PKG_BUILDDIR) checkout -f $(PKG_VERSION)
-	git -C $(PKG_BUILDDIR) am $(GITAMFLAGS) "$(PKG_DIR)"/patches/*.patch
+	git $(GITFLAGS) -C $(PKG_BUILDDIR) am $(GITAMFLAGS) "$(PKG_DIR)"/patches/*.patch
 	touch $@
 endif