diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 020a7e55ce..0c0e1343c1 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -679,6 +679,10 @@ if time_epoch == -1
         source_date_epoch = run_command('sh', ['-c', 'echo "$SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH"']).stdout().strip()
         if source_date_epoch != ''
                 time_epoch = source_date_epoch.to_int()
+        elif git.found() and run_command('test', '-e', '.git').returncode() == 0
+                # If we're in a git repository, use the creation time of the latest git tag.
+                latest_tag = run_command('git', 'describe', '--abbrev=0', '--tags').stdout().strip()
+                time_epoch = run_command('git', 'log', '-1', '--format=%at', latest_tag).stdout().to_int()
         else
                 NEWS = files('NEWS')
                 time_epoch = run_command(stat, '-c', '%Y', NEWS).stdout().to_int()