diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 0cd6b6145418e..bbe0d1f6ed89a 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -64,7 +64,9 @@ IFS=$ac_IFS
 PHP_MAJOR_VERSION=[$]1
 PHP_MINOR_VERSION=[$]2
 PHP_RELEASE_VERSION=[$]3
-PHP_EXTRA_VERSION=[$]4
+dnl Allow overriding PHP_EXTRA_VERSION through the homonymous env var
+AC_ARG_VAR([PHP_EXTRA_VERSION],[Extra PHP version label suffix, e.g. '-dev', 'rc1', '-acme'])dnl
+AS_IF([test -z "$PHP_EXTRA_VERSION"],[PHP_EXTRA_VERSION=[$]4])
 PHP_VERSION="$PHP_MAJOR_VERSION.$PHP_MINOR_VERSION.$PHP_RELEASE_VERSION$PHP_EXTRA_VERSION"
 PHP_VERSION_ID=`expr [$]PHP_MAJOR_VERSION \* 10000 + [$]PHP_MINOR_VERSION \* 100 + [$]PHP_RELEASE_VERSION`