diff --git a/http-fetch.c b/http-fetch.c
index c4ccc5fea9..2d1d9d054f 100644
--- a/http-fetch.c
+++ b/http-fetch.c
@@ -43,6 +43,9 @@ static int fetch_using_walker(const char *raw_url, int get_verbosely,
 	return rc;
 }
 
+static const char *index_pack_args[] =
+	{"index-pack", "--stdin", "--keep", NULL};
+
 static void fetch_single_packfile(struct object_id *packfile_hash,
 				  const char *url) {
 	struct http_pack_request *preq;
@@ -55,7 +58,8 @@ static void fetch_single_packfile(struct object_id *packfile_hash,
 	if (preq == NULL)
 		die("couldn't create http pack request");
 	preq->slot->results = &results;
-	preq->generate_keep = 1;
+	preq->index_pack_args = index_pack_args;
+	preq->preserve_index_pack_stdout = 1;
 
 	if (start_active_slot(preq->slot)) {
 		run_active_slot(preq->slot);
diff --git a/http.c b/http.c
index 8b23a546af..f8ea28bb2e 100644
--- a/http.c
+++ b/http.c
@@ -2259,6 +2259,9 @@ void release_http_pack_request(struct http_pack_request *preq)
 	free(preq);
 }
 
+static const char *default_index_pack_args[] =
+	{"index-pack", "--stdin", NULL};
+
 int finish_http_pack_request(struct http_pack_request *preq)
 {
 	struct child_process ip = CHILD_PROCESS_INIT;
@@ -2270,17 +2273,15 @@ int finish_http_pack_request(struct http_pack_request *preq)
 
 	tmpfile_fd = xopen(preq->tmpfile.buf, O_RDONLY);
 
-	strvec_push(&ip.args, "index-pack");
-	strvec_push(&ip.args, "--stdin");
 	ip.git_cmd = 1;
 	ip.in = tmpfile_fd;
-	if (preq->generate_keep) {
-		strvec_pushf(&ip.args, "--keep=git %"PRIuMAX,
-			     (uintmax_t)getpid());
+	ip.argv = preq->index_pack_args ? preq->index_pack_args
+					: default_index_pack_args;
+
+	if (preq->preserve_index_pack_stdout)
 		ip.out = 0;
-	} else {
+	else
 		ip.no_stdout = 1;
-	}
 
 	if (run_command(&ip)) {
 		ret = -1;
diff --git a/http.h b/http.h
index 5de792ef3f..bf3d1270ad 100644
--- a/http.h
+++ b/http.h
@@ -218,12 +218,12 @@ struct http_pack_request {
 	char *url;
 
 	/*
-	 * If this is true, finish_http_pack_request() will pass "--keep" to
-	 * index-pack, resulting in the creation of a keep file, and will not
-	 * suppress its stdout (that is, the "keep\t<hash>\n" line will be
-	 * printed to stdout).
+	 * index-pack command to run. Must be terminated by NULL.
+	 *
+	 * If NULL, defaults to	{"index-pack", "--stdin", NULL}.
 	 */
-	unsigned generate_keep : 1;
+	const char **index_pack_args;
+	unsigned preserve_index_pack_stdout : 1;
 
 	FILE *packfile;
 	struct strbuf tmpfile;