diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 41ecab1..e205c9e 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@ FROM scratch
 LABEL org.opencontainers.image.authors="binhex"
 LABEL org.opencontainers.image.source="https://github.com/binhex/arch-base"
 
+# release tag name from buildx arg
+ARG RELEASETAG
+
 # arch from buildx --platform, e.g. amd64
 ARG TARGETARCH
 
@@ -28,7 +31,7 @@ RUN ["/bootstrap/busybox", "--install", "-s", "/bootstrap"]
 # once the tarball is extracted we then use bash to execute the install script to
 # install everything else for the base image.
 # note, do not line wrap the below command, as it will fail looking for /bin/sh
-RUN ["/bootstrap/sh", "-c", "/bootstrap/bootstrap.sh ${TARGETARCH}"]
+RUN ["/bootstrap/sh", "-c", "/bootstrap/bootstrap.sh ${RELEASETAG} ${TARGETARCH}"]
 
 # env
 #####
diff --git a/build/common/root/bootstrap.sh b/build/common/root/bootstrap.sh
index 0b32a0d..a6244d7 100755
--- a/build/common/root/bootstrap.sh
+++ b/build/common/root/bootstrap.sh
@@ -1,7 +1,10 @@
 #!/bootstrap/sh
 
+# get release tag name (defined in Dockerfile as arg)
+RELEASETAG="${1}"
+
 # get target arch from first parameter (defined in Dockerfile as arg)
-TARGETARCH="${1}"
+TARGETARCH="${2}"
 
 # create vars for arch
 if [ "${TARGETARCH}" = "amd64" ]; then
diff --git a/build/common/root/install.sh b/build/common/root/install.sh
index 2210ee2..c993528 100755
--- a/build/common/root/install.sh
+++ b/build/common/root/install.sh
@@ -3,14 +3,20 @@
 # exit script if return code != 0
 set -e
 
+# release tag name from buildx arg, stripped of build ver using string manipulation
+RELEASETAG="${1}"
+
 # get target arch from first parameter (defined in Dockerfile as arg)
-TARGETARCH="${1}"
+TARGETARCH="${2}"
 
 # construct snapshot date (cannot use todays as archive wont exist) and set url for archive.
 # note: for arch linux arm archive repo that the snapshot date has to be at least 2 days
 # previous as the mirror from live to the archive for arm packages is slow
 snapshot_date=$(date -d "1 days ago" +%Y/%m/%d)
 
+# write RELEASETAG to file to record the release tag used to build the image
+echo "BASE_RELEASE_TAG=${RELEASETAG}" >> '/etc/image-release'
+
 # now set pacman to use snapshot for packages for snapshot date
 if [[ "${TARGETARCH}" == "arm64" ]]; then
 	echo 'Server = http://tardis.tiny-vps.com/aarm/repos/'"${snapshot_date}"'/$arch/$repo' > '/etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist'