--- a/Makefile.am	Tue Oct 11 15:20:35 2016 +0200
+++ b/Makefile.am	Thu Sep 21 14:19:10 2017 -0700
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
 export SED
 export SHELL
 export PERL
+export TAR_OPTIONS
 
 version := ${OCTAVE_VERSION}
 api_version := ${OCTAVE_API_VERSION}
@@ -80,6 +81,13 @@
 OCTAVE_GUI_LINK_DEPS = @OCTAVE_GUI_LINK_DEPS@
 OCTAVE_GUI_LINK_OPTS = @OCTAVE_GUI_LINK_OPTS@
 
+# Options used for creating the source distribution.
+
+GZIP_ENV = --best --no-name
+SOURCE_MTIME := \
+  $(shell $(SHELL) $(top_srcdir)/build-aux/get-source-mtime.sh "$(srcdir)")
+TAR_OPTIONS = $(REPRODUCIBLE_TAR_FLAGS) --mtime=@$(SOURCE_MTIME)
+
 # The arguments passed to configure.
 
 CONFIG_SUBDIRS = @subdirs@

--- /dev/null	Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+++ b/build-aux/get-source-mtime.sh	Thu Sep 21 14:19:10 2017 -0700
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+#! /bin/sh
+#
+# Copyright (C) 2017 Mike Miller
+#
+# This file is part of Octave.
+#
+# Octave is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+# under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or
+# (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# Octave is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
+# WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with Octave; see the file COPYING.  If not, see
+# <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+# Generate a timestamp that best represents the last modification time
+# of this source tree.  The time value is printed on stdout in units of
+# time_t.  If a reasonable representation of the source tree last
+# modification time can't be determined, then the current system time is
+# printed instead.  A valid time_t value is always printed on stdout.
+
+set -e
+
+PERL=${PERL:-perl}
+SED=${SED:-sed}
+
+if [ $# -ne 1 ]; then
+  echo "usage: get-source-mtime.sh SRCDIR" 1>&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+srcdir="$1"
+
+if [ x"$SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH" != x ]; then
+  # Allow the source modification time to be overridden by SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH
+  t=$SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH
+elif [ -d $srcdir/.hg ]; then
+  t=$( cd $srcdir && hg log --rev . --template '{date|hgdate}' )
+  t=$( echo $t | $SED -n 's/^\([0-9]\+\) .*/\1/p' )
+elif [ -f $srcdir/HG-ID ]; then
+  t=$( $PERL -e '@s = stat($ARGV[0]); print($s[9]) if @s;' $srcdir/HG-ID )
+elif [ -f $srcdir/configure ]; then
+  t=$( $PERL -e '@s = stat($ARGV[0]); print($s[9]) if @s;' $srcdir/configure )
+fi
+
+if [ x"$t" = x ]; then
+  t=$( date +%s )
+fi
+
+echo $t

--- a/build-aux/module.mk	Tue Oct 11 15:20:35 2016 +0200
+++ b/build-aux/module.mk	Thu Sep 21 14:19:10 2017 -0700
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
   %reldir%/check-subst-vars.in.sh \
   %reldir%/find-defun-files.sh \
   %reldir%/find-files-with-tests.sh \
+  %reldir%/get-source-mtime.sh \
   %reldir%/mk-hg-id.sh \
   %reldir%/mk-octave-config-h.sh \
   %reldir%/mk-opts.pl \

--- a/configure.ac	Tue Oct 11 15:20:35 2016 +0200
+++ b/configure.ac	Thu Sep 21 14:19:10 2017 -0700
@@ -203,6 +203,8 @@
 OCTAVE_PROG_TEXI2DVI
 OCTAVE_PROG_TEXI2PDF
 
+OCTAVE_PROG_TAR_REPRODUCIBLE
+
 ## Programs used when installing Octave.
 AC_PROG_LN_S
 AC_PROG_MKDIR_P

--- a/m4/acinclude.m4	Tue Oct 11 15:20:35 2016 +0200
+++ b/m4/acinclude.m4	Thu Sep 21 14:19:10 2017 -0700
@@ -2582,6 +2582,31 @@
   AC_MSG_RESULT([$SED])
 ])
 dnl
+dnl Check for options that can be passed to tar to make archives reproducible.
+dnl
+AC_DEFUN([OCTAVE_PROG_TAR_REPRODUCIBLE], [
+  AC_MSG_CHECKING([for options to make reproducible archives with GNU tar])
+dnl This uses Automake's logic for finding GNU tar under various names
+  for octave_tar in tar gnutar gtar :; do
+    $octave_tar --version >/dev/null 2>&1 && break
+  done
+dnl If we have a valid GNU tar program, see if it supports sets of options
+  if test x"$octave_tar" != x:; then
+    octave_tar_flags=
+    echo > conftest.txt
+    for octave_tar_flag in --owner=0 --group=0 --numeric-owner --sort=name; do
+      $octave_tar -cf conftest.tar $octave_tar_flags $octave_tar_flag conftest.txt 2>/dev/null
+      if test $? -eq 0; then
+        octave_tar_flags="${octave_tar_flags:+$octave_tar_flags }$octave_tar_flag"
+      fi
+    done
+    rm -f conftest.tar conftest.txt
+    REPRODUCIBLE_TAR_FLAGS="$octave_tar_flags"
+  fi
+  AC_SUBST(REPRODUCIBLE_TAR_FLAGS)
+  AC_MSG_RESULT([$REPRODUCIBLE_TAR_FLAGS])
+])
+dnl
 dnl Check for texi2dvi.
 dnl
 AC_DEFUN([OCTAVE_PROG_TEXI2DVI], [