diff --git a/src/cmd/linuxkit/pkglib/build.go b/src/cmd/linuxkit/pkglib/build.go
index f32c723be..a52a92997 100644
--- a/src/cmd/linuxkit/pkglib/build.go
+++ b/src/cmd/linuxkit/pkglib/build.go
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ func (p Pkg) Build(bos ...BuildOpt) error {
 		return fmt.Errorf("Unknown arch %q", arch)
 	}
 
-	if bo.release == "" {
+	if p.git != nil && bo.release == "" {
 		r, err := p.git.commitTag("HEAD")
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
@@ -97,10 +97,10 @@ func (p Pkg) Build(bos ...BuildOpt) error {
 
 	var args []string
 
-	if p.gitRepo != "" {
+	if p.git != nil && p.gitRepo != "" {
 		args = append(args, "--label", "org.opencontainers.image.source="+p.gitRepo)
 	}
-	if !p.dirty {
+	if p.git != nil && !p.dirty {
 		commit, err := p.git.commitHash("HEAD")
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
diff --git a/src/cmd/linuxkit/pkglib/git.go b/src/cmd/linuxkit/pkglib/git.go
index ee7498b3f..41a8c990d 100644
--- a/src/cmd/linuxkit/pkglib/git.go
+++ b/src/cmd/linuxkit/pkglib/git.go
@@ -24,8 +24,19 @@ type git struct {
 	dir string
 }
 
-func newGit(dir string) *git {
-	return &git{dir}
+// Returns git==nil and no error if the path is not within a git repository
+func newGit(dir string) (*git, error) {
+	g := &git{dir}
+
+	// Check if dir really is within a git directory
+	ok, err := g.isWorkTree(dir)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	if !ok {
+		return nil, nil
+	}
+	return g, nil
 }
 
 func (g git) mkCmd(args ...string) *exec.Cmd {
@@ -56,6 +67,25 @@ func (g git) command(args ...string) error {
 	return cmd.Run()
 }
 
+func (g git) isWorkTree(pkg string) (bool, error) {
+	tf, err := g.commandStdout(nil, "rev-parse", "--is-inside-work-tree")
+	if err != nil {
+		// If we executed git ok but it errored then that's because this isn't a git repo
+		if _, ok := err.(*exec.ExitError); ok {
+			return false, nil
+		}
+		return false, err
+	}
+
+	tf = strings.TrimSpace(tf)
+
+	if tf == "true" {
+		return true, nil
+	}
+
+	return false, fmt.Errorf("unexpected output from git rev-parse --is-inside-work-tree: %s", tf)
+}
+
 func (g git) treeHash(pkg, commit string) (string, error) {
 	out, err := g.commandStdout(os.Stderr, "ls-tree", "--full-tree", commit, "--", pkg)
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/src/cmd/linuxkit/pkglib/pkglib.go b/src/cmd/linuxkit/pkglib/pkglib.go
index 1b44f003a..aab1e05c9 100644
--- a/src/cmd/linuxkit/pkglib/pkglib.go
+++ b/src/cmd/linuxkit/pkglib/pkglib.go
@@ -139,22 +139,27 @@ func NewFromCLI(fs *flag.FlagSet, args ...string) (Pkg, error) {
 		}
 	})
 
-	git := newGit(pkgPath)
-
-	gitDirty, err := git.isDirty(hashPath, hashCommit)
+	git, err := newGit(pkgPath)
 	if err != nil {
 		return Pkg{}, err
 	}
 
-	dirty = dirty || gitDirty
-
-	if hash == "" {
-		if hash, err = git.treeHash(hashPath, hashCommit); err != nil {
+	if git != nil {
+		gitDirty, err := git.isDirty(hashPath, hashCommit)
+		if err != nil {
 			return Pkg{}, err
 		}
 
-		if dirty {
-			hash += "-dirty"
+		dirty = dirty || gitDirty
+
+		if hash == "" {
+			if hash, err = git.treeHash(hashPath, hashCommit); err != nil {
+				return Pkg{}, err
+			}
+
+			if dirty {
+				hash += "-dirty"
+			}
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -193,7 +198,11 @@ func (p Pkg) ReleaseTag(release string) (string, error) {
 
 // Tag returns the tag to use for the package
 func (p Pkg) Tag() string {
-	return p.org + "/" + p.image + ":" + p.hash
+	r := p.org + "/" + p.image
+	if p.hash != "" {
+		r += ":" + p.hash
+	}
+	return r
 }
 
 // TrustEnabled returns true if trust is enabled