diff --git a/Documentation/config/transfer.txt b/Documentation/config/transfer.txt
index f1ce50f4a6..e2d95d1ccd 100644
--- a/Documentation/config/transfer.txt
+++ b/Documentation/config/transfer.txt
@@ -125,3 +125,10 @@ transfer.bundleURI::
 transfer.advertiseObjectInfo::
 	When `true`, the `object-info` capability is advertised by
 	servers. Defaults to false.
+
+transfer.advertiseOSVersion::
+	When `true`, the `os-version` capability is advertised by clients and
+	servers. It makes clients and servers send to each other a string
+	representing the operating system name, like "Linux" or "Windows".
+	This string is retrieved from the 'sysname' field of the struct returned
+	by the uname(2) system call. Defaults to true.
diff --git a/Documentation/gitprotocol-v2.txt b/Documentation/gitprotocol-v2.txt
index 1652fef3ae..c28262c60b 100644
--- a/Documentation/gitprotocol-v2.txt
+++ b/Documentation/gitprotocol-v2.txt
@@ -190,6 +190,26 @@ printable ASCII characters except space (i.e., the byte range 32 < x <
 and debugging purposes, and MUST NOT be used to programmatically assume
 the presence or absence of particular features.
 
+os-version
+~~~~~~~~~~
+
+In the same way as the `agent` capability above, the server can
+advertise the `os-version` capability with a value `X` (in the form
+`os-version=X`) to notify the client that the server is running an
+operating system that can be identified by `X`. The client may
+optionally send its own `os-version` string by including the
+`os-version` capability with a value `Y` (in the form `os-version=Y`)
+in its request to the server (but it MUST NOT do so if the server did
+not advertise the os-version capability). The `X` and `Y` strings may
+contain any printable ASCII characters except space (i.e., the byte
+range 32 < x < 127), and are typically made from the result of
+`uname -s`(OS name e.g Linux). The os-version capability can be disabled
+entirely by setting the `transfer.advertiseOSVersion` config option
+to `false`. The `os-version` strings are purely informative for
+statistics and debugging purposes, and MUST NOT be used to
+programmatically assume the presence or absence of particular
+features.
+
 ls-refs
 ~~~~~~~
 
diff --git a/connect.c b/connect.c
index 10fad43e98..6d5792b63c 100644
--- a/connect.c
+++ b/connect.c
@@ -492,6 +492,9 @@ static void send_capabilities(int fd_out, struct packet_reader *reader)
 	if (server_supports_v2("agent"))
 		packet_write_fmt(fd_out, "agent=%s", git_user_agent_sanitized());
 
+	if (server_supports_v2("os-version") && advertise_os_version(the_repository))
+		packet_write_fmt(fd_out, "os-version=%s", os_version_sanitized());
+
 	if (server_feature_v2("object-format", &hash_name)) {
 		int hash_algo = hash_algo_by_name(hash_name);
 		if (hash_algo == GIT_HASH_UNKNOWN)
diff --git a/serve.c b/serve.c
index c8694e3751..5b0d54ae9a 100644
--- a/serve.c
+++ b/serve.c
@@ -31,6 +31,16 @@ static int agent_advertise(struct repository *r UNUSED,
 	return 1;
 }
 
+static int os_version_advertise(struct repository *r,
+			   struct strbuf *value)
+{
+	if (!advertise_os_version(r))
+		return 0;
+	if (value)
+		strbuf_addstr(value, os_version_sanitized());
+	return 1;
+}
+
 static int object_format_advertise(struct repository *r,
 				   struct strbuf *value)
 {
@@ -123,6 +133,10 @@ static struct protocol_capability capabilities[] = {
 		.name = "agent",
 		.advertise = agent_advertise,
 	},
+	{
+		.name = "os-version",
+		.advertise = os_version_advertise,
+	},
 	{
 		.name = "ls-refs",
 		.advertise = ls_refs_advertise,
diff --git a/t/t5555-http-smart-common.sh b/t/t5555-http-smart-common.sh
index e47ea1ad10..f9e2a66cba 100755
--- a/t/t5555-http-smart-common.sh
+++ b/t/t5555-http-smart-common.sh
@@ -123,9 +123,19 @@ test_expect_success 'git receive-pack --advertise-refs: v1' '
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'git upload-pack --advertise-refs: v2' '
+	printf "agent=FAKE" >agent_and_os_name &&
+	if test_have_prereq WINDOWS
+	then
+		# We do not use test_config here so that any tests below can reuse
+		# the "expect" file from this test
+		git config transfer.advertiseOSVersion false
+	else
+		printf "\nos-version=%s\n" $(uname -s | test_redact_non_printables) >>agent_and_os_name
+	fi &&
+
 	cat >expect <<-EOF &&
 	version 2
-	agent=FAKE
+	$(cat agent_and_os_name)
 	ls-refs=unborn
 	fetch=shallow wait-for-done
 	server-option
diff --git a/t/t5701-git-serve.sh b/t/t5701-git-serve.sh
index de904c1655..f4668b7acd 100755
--- a/t/t5701-git-serve.sh
+++ b/t/t5701-git-serve.sh
@@ -8,13 +8,23 @@ export GIT_TEST_DEFAULT_INITIAL_BRANCH_NAME
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
 test_expect_success 'test capability advertisement' '
+	printf "agent=git/$(git version | cut -d" " -f3)" >agent_and_os_name &&
+	if test_have_prereq WINDOWS
+	then
+		# We do not use test_config here so that tests below will be able to reuse
+		# the expect.base and expect.trailer files
+		git config transfer.advertiseOSVersion false
+	else
+		printf "\nos-version=%s\n" $(uname -s | test_redact_non_printables) >>agent_and_os_name
+	fi &&
+
 	test_oid_cache <<-EOF &&
 	wrong_algo sha1:sha256
 	wrong_algo sha256:sha1
 	EOF
 	cat >expect.base <<-EOF &&
 	version 2
-	agent=git/$(git version | cut -d" " -f3)
+	$(cat agent_and_os_name)
 	ls-refs=unborn
 	fetch=shallow wait-for-done
 	server-option
diff --git a/t/test-lib-functions.sh b/t/test-lib-functions.sh
index 78e054ab50..447c698d74 100644
--- a/t/test-lib-functions.sh
+++ b/t/test-lib-functions.sh
@@ -2007,3 +2007,11 @@ test_trailing_hash () {
 		test-tool hexdump |
 		sed "s/ //g"
 }
+
+# Trim and replace each character with ascii code below 32 or above
+# 127 (included) using a dot '.' character.
+# Octal intervals \001-\040 and \177-\377
+# corresponds to decimal intervals 1-32 and 127-255
+test_redact_non_printables () {
+    tr -d "\n" | tr "[\001-\040][\177-\377]" "."
+}
diff --git a/version.c b/version.c
index 44ffc4dd57..8242baf41c 100644
--- a/version.c
+++ b/version.c
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 #include "version-def.h"
 #include "strbuf.h"
 #include "gettext.h"
+#include "config.h"
 
 const char git_version_string[] = GIT_VERSION;
 const char git_built_from_commit_string[] = GIT_BUILT_FROM_COMMIT;
@@ -70,3 +71,44 @@ int get_uname_info(struct strbuf *buf, unsigned int full)
 		strbuf_addf(buf, "%s\n", uname_info.sysname);
 	return 0;
 }
+
+const char *os_version(void)
+{
+	static const char *os = NULL;
+
+	if (!os) {
+		struct strbuf buf = STRBUF_INIT;
+
+		get_uname_info(&buf, 0);
+		os = strbuf_detach(&buf, NULL);
+	}
+
+	return os;
+}
+
+const char *os_version_sanitized(void)
+{
+	static const char *os_sanitized = NULL;
+
+	if (!os_sanitized) {
+		struct strbuf buf = STRBUF_INIT;
+
+		strbuf_addstr(&buf, os_version());
+		redact_non_printables(&buf);
+		os_sanitized = strbuf_detach(&buf, NULL);
+	}
+
+	return os_sanitized;
+}
+
+int advertise_os_version(struct repository *r)
+{
+	static int transfer_advertise_os_version = -1;
+
+	if (transfer_advertise_os_version == -1) {
+		repo_config_get_bool(r, "transfer.advertiseosversion", &transfer_advertise_os_version);
+		/* enabled by default */
+		transfer_advertise_os_version = !!transfer_advertise_os_version;
+	}
+	return transfer_advertise_os_version;
+}
diff --git a/version.h b/version.h
index 5eb586c0bd..8167ce956a 100644
--- a/version.h
+++ b/version.h
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 #ifndef VERSION_H
 #define VERSION_H
 
+struct repository;
+
 extern const char git_version_string[];
 extern const char git_built_from_commit_string[];
 
@@ -14,4 +16,8 @@ const char *git_user_agent_sanitized(void);
 */
 int get_uname_info(struct strbuf *buf, unsigned int full);
 
+const char *os_version(void);
+const char *os_version_sanitized(void);
+int advertise_os_version(struct repository *r);
+
 #endif /* VERSION_H */
