diff --git a/release/Makefile b/release/Makefile
index 1fd081c1afd..056d28814f6 100644
--- a/release/Makefile
+++ b/release/Makefile
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 #            (by default, the directory above this one) 
 #  PORTSDIR: location of ports tree to distribute (default: /usr/ports)
 #  DOCDIR:   location of doc tree (default: /usr/doc)
+#  NOPKG:    if set, do not distribute third-party packages
 #  NOPORTS:  if set, do not distribute ports tree
 #  NOSRC:    if set, do not distribute source tree
 #  NODOC:    if set, do not generate release documentation
@@ -212,7 +213,7 @@ packagesystem: base.txz kernel.txz ${EXTRA_PACKAGES}
 	touch ${.TARGET}
 
 pkg-stage:
-.if(exists(${.CURDIR}/${TARGET}/pkg-stage.conf))
+.if !defined(NOPKG) && exists(${.CURDIR}/${TARGET}/pkg-stage.conf)
 	sh ${.CURDIR}/scripts/pkg-stage.sh ${.CURDIR}/${TARGET}/pkg-stage.conf \
 		${REVISION}
 .endif