diff --git a/.git_archival.txt b/.git_archival.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7c5100942
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.git_archival.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+node: $Format:%H$
+node-date: $Format:%cI$
+describe-name: $Format:%(describe:tags=true,match=*[0-9]*)$
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..32f30e8f1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+# allow installing from git archives
+.git_archival.txt  export-subst