diff --git a/docs/build.rst b/docs/build.rst
index c53fdbd44..378cfbdfd 100644
--- a/docs/build.rst
+++ b/docs/build.rst
@@ -115,5 +115,5 @@ brew or MacPorts as well.
 
 .. note::
         |kitty| has its own update check mechanism, if you would like to turn
-        it off for your package, change the default value of
-        :opt:`update_check_interval` to zero.
+        it off for your package, use
+        ``python3 setup.py linux-package --update-check-interval=0``
diff --git a/docs/changelog.rst b/docs/changelog.rst
index 70eae29fb..20e672661 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.rst
+++ b/docs/changelog.rst
@@ -22,6 +22,9 @@ To update |kitty|, :doc:`follow the instructions <binary>`.
 - panel kitten: Fix the contents of the panel kitten not being positioned
   correctly on the vertical axis
 
+- Add an option to control the default :opt:`update_check_interval` when
+  building kitty packages
+
 
 0.14.1 [2019-05-29]
 ---------------------
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index e29c93353..3ae279386 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -657,6 +657,12 @@ def package(args, for_bundle=False, sh_launcher=False):
 
     shutil.copytree('kitty', os.path.join(libdir, 'kitty'), ignore=src_ignore)
     shutil.copytree('kittens', os.path.join(libdir, 'kittens'), ignore=src_ignore)
+    with open(os.path.join(libdir, 'kitty/config_data.py'), 'r+', encoding='utf-8') as f:
+        raw = f.read()
+        nraw = raw.replace("update_check_interval', 24", "update_check_interval', {}".format(args.update_check_interval), 1)
+        if nraw == raw:
+            raise SystemExit('Failed to change the value of update_check_interval')
+        f.seek(0), f.truncate(), f.write(nraw)
     compile_python(libdir)
     for root, dirs, files in os.walk(libdir):
         for f in files:
@@ -854,7 +860,14 @@ def option_parser():  # {{{
         default=[],
         choices=('event-loop',),
         help='Turn on extra logging for debugging in this build. Can be specified multiple times, to turn'
-        'on different types of logging.'
+        ' on different types of logging.'
+    )
+    p.add_argument(
+        '--update-check-interval',
+        type=float,
+        default=24,
+        help='When building a package, the default value for the update_check_interval setting will'
+        ' be set to this number. Use zero to disable update checking.'
     )
     return p
 # }}}