diff --git a/GIT-BUILD-OPTIONS.in b/GIT-BUILD-OPTIONS.in
index f651116102ae2977622dccd12b199fe7ad65af99..f1d0ecf123031dd13232cc63e100da528bfea16a 100644
--- a/GIT-BUILD-OPTIONS.in
+++ b/GIT-BUILD-OPTIONS.in
@@ -45,3 +45,4 @@ GITWEBDIR=@GITWEBDIR@
 USE_GETTEXT_SCHEME=@USE_GETTEXT_SCHEME@
 LOCALEDIR=@LOCALEDIR@
 BROKEN_PATH_FIX=@BROKEN_PATH_FIX@
+WITH_BREAKING_CHANGES=@WITH_BREAKING_CHANGES@
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 06f01149ecf399ae4bb1932188a007948d767283..dc3c980aa7a4f42d27ed72415a636ac82b2a5684 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -2230,6 +2230,10 @@ ifdef FSMONITOR_OS_SETTINGS
 	COMPAT_OBJS += compat/fsmonitor/fsm-path-utils-$(FSMONITOR_OS_SETTINGS).o
 endif
 
+ifdef WITH_BREAKING_CHANGES
+	BASIC_CFLAGS += -DWITH_BREAKING_CHANGES
+endif
+
 ifeq ($(TCLTK_PATH),)
 NO_TCLTK = NoThanks
 endif
@@ -3187,6 +3191,7 @@ GIT-BUILD-OPTIONS: FORCE
 		-e "s|@USE_GETTEXT_SCHEME@|\'$(USE_GETTEXT_SCHEME)\'|" \
 		-e "s|@LOCALEDIR@|\'$(localedir_SQ)\'|" \
 		-e "s!@BROKEN_PATH_FIX@!\'$(BROKEN_PATH_FIX)\'!" \
+		-e "s|@WITH_BREAKING_CHANGES@|\'$(WITH_BREAKING_CHANGES)\'|" \
 		GIT-BUILD-OPTIONS.in >$@+
 	@if grep -q '^[A-Z][A-Z_]*=@.*@$$' $@+; then echo "Unsubstituted build options in $@" >&2 && exit 1; fi
 	@if cmp $@+ $@ >/dev/null 2>&1; then $(RM) $@+; else mv $@+ $@; fi
diff --git a/contrib/buildsystems/CMakeLists.txt b/contrib/buildsystems/CMakeLists.txt
index 49904ca8a93981c514540bad5efa6833ddd14426..63d008892848c20d5937d9a624a480f700b19498 100644
--- a/contrib/buildsystems/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/contrib/buildsystems/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1198,6 +1198,7 @@ string(REPLACE "@GITWEBDIR@" "'${GITWEBDIR}'" git_build_options "${git_build_opt
 string(REPLACE "@USE_GETTEXT_SCHEME@" "" git_build_options "${git_build_options}")
 string(REPLACE "@LOCALEDIR@" "'${LOCALEDIR}'" git_build_options "${git_build_options}")
 string(REPLACE "@BROKEN_PATH_FIX@" "" git_build_options "${git_build_options}")
+string(REPLACE "@WITH_BREAKING_CHANGES@" "" git_build_options "${git_build_options}")
 if(USE_VCPKG)
 	string(APPEND git_build_options "PATH=\"$PATH:$TEST_DIRECTORY/../compat/vcbuild/vcpkg/installed/x64-windows/bin\"\n")
 endif()
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 0dccebcdf16b07650d943e53643f0e09e2975cc9..316cd9326437876828a88d96a1bc93d503199900 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -644,6 +644,12 @@ build_options_config.set('GIT_TEST_UTF8_LOCALE', '')
 build_options_config.set_quoted('LOCALEDIR', fs.as_posix(get_option('prefix') / get_option('localedir')))
 build_options_config.set('GITWEBDIR', fs.as_posix(get_option('prefix') / get_option('datadir') / 'gitweb'))
 
+if get_option('breaking_changes')
+  build_options_config.set('WITH_BREAKING_CHANGES', 'YesPlease')
+else
+  build_options_config.set('WITH_BREAKING_CHANGES', '')
+endif
+
 if get_option('sane_tool_path') != ''
   build_options_config.set_quoted('BROKEN_PATH_FIX', 's|^\# @BROKEN_PATH_FIX@$|git_broken_path_fix "' + get_option('sane_tool_path') + '"|')
 else
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index 32a72139bae870745d9131cc9086a4594826be91..800e518d959c4143812f8840415b99a593667a8d 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -43,6 +43,8 @@ option('sha256_backend', type: 'combo', choices: ['openssl', 'nettle', 'gcrypt',
   description: 'The backend used for hashing objects with the SHA256 object format')
 
 # Build tweaks.
+option('breaking_changes', type: 'boolean', value: false,
+  description: 'Enable upcoming breaking changes.')
 option('macos_use_homebrew_gettext', type: 'boolean', value: true,
   description: 'Use gettext from Homebrew instead of the slightly-broken system-provided one.')
 
diff --git a/t/test-lib.sh b/t/test-lib.sh
index 62dfcc4aaf959d0cf066d07663d939e14f92485c..6e423f655d35adf5a2d4f8b3a78d9e8c1119caab 100644
--- a/t/test-lib.sh
+++ b/t/test-lib.sh
@@ -1864,6 +1864,10 @@ test_lazy_prereq CURL '
 	curl --version
 '
 
+test_lazy_prereq WITHOUT_BREAKING_CHANGES '
+	test -z "$WITH_BREAKING_CHANGES"
+'
+
 # SHA1 is a test if the hash algorithm in use is SHA-1.  This is both for tests
 # which will not work with other hash algorithms and tests that work but don't
 # test anything meaningful (e.g. special values which cause short collisions).
