diff --git a/ipmitool/configure.in b/ipmitool/configure.in
index f6c8710..a321b71 100644
--- a/ipmitool/configure.in
+++ b/ipmitool/configure.in
@@ -221,6 +221,13 @@ AC_ARG_WITH([rpm-distro],
 			[set Linux distribution tag for use in RPM version string])],
 	[AC_SUBST(DISTRO, $with_rpm_distro)])
 
+dnl set RPM release tag
+AC_ARG_WITH([rpm-release],
+	[AC_HELP_STRING([--with-rpm-release=RELEASE],
+			[set release number for RPM release field])],
+	[], [with_rpm_release=1])
+AC_SUBST(RPM_RELEASE, $with_rpm_release)
+
 dnl enable Linux OpenIPMI interface
 AC_ARG_ENABLE([intf-open],
 	[AC_HELP_STRING([--enable-intf-open],
diff --git a/ipmitool/control/ipmitool.spec.in b/ipmitool/control/ipmitool.spec.in
index 1bcf8b7..1e7fed5 100644
--- a/ipmitool/control/ipmitool.spec.in
+++ b/ipmitool/control/ipmitool.spec.in
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 Name:         ipmitool
 Summary:      ipmitool - Utility for IPMI control
 Version:      @VERSION@
-Release:      1%{?_distro:.%{_distro}}
+Release:      @RPM_RELEASE@%{?_distro:.%{_distro}}
 License:      BSD
 Group:        Utilities
 Packager:     Duncan Laurie <duncan@iceblink.org>