diff --git a/builtin/pack-objects.c b/builtin/pack-objects.c
index 0fd52bd6b4..5c42a1d05e 100644
--- a/builtin/pack-objects.c
+++ b/builtin/pack-objects.c
@@ -1541,6 +1541,8 @@ static int pack_offset_sort(const void *_a, const void *_b)
  *   2. Updating our size/type to the non-delta representation. These were
  *      either not recorded initially (size) or overwritten with the delta type
  *      (type) when check_object() decided to reuse the delta.
+ *
+ *   3. Resetting our delta depth, as we are now a base object.
  */
 static void drop_reused_delta(struct object_entry *entry)
 {
@@ -1554,6 +1556,7 @@ static void drop_reused_delta(struct object_entry *entry)
 			p = &(*p)->delta_sibling;
 	}
 	entry->delta = NULL;
+	entry->depth = 0;
 
 	oi.sizep = &entry->size;
 	oi.typep = &entry->type;
@@ -1572,6 +1575,9 @@ static void drop_reused_delta(struct object_entry *entry)
  * Follow the chain of deltas from this entry onward, throwing away any links
  * that cause us to hit a cycle (as determined by the DFS state flags in
  * the entries).
+ *
+ * We also detect too-long reused chains that would violate our --depth
+ * limit.
  */
 static void break_delta_chains(struct object_entry *entry)
 {
@@ -1589,6 +1595,18 @@ static void break_delta_chains(struct object_entry *entry)
 		 */
 		entry->dfs_state = DFS_ACTIVE;
 		break_delta_chains(entry->delta);
+
+		/*
+		 * Once we've recursed, our base (if we still have one) knows
+		 * its depth, so we can compute ours (and check it against
+		 * the limit).
+		 */
+		if (entry->delta) {
+			entry->depth = entry->delta->depth + 1;
+			if (entry->depth > depth)
+				drop_reused_delta(entry);
+		}
+
 		entry->dfs_state = DFS_DONE;
 		break;
 
diff --git a/pack-objects.h b/pack-objects.h
index cc9b9a9b90..03f1191659 100644
--- a/pack-objects.h
+++ b/pack-objects.h
@@ -30,12 +30,16 @@ struct object_entry {
 
 	/*
 	 * State flags for depth-first search used for analyzing delta cycles.
+	 *
+	 * The depth is measured in delta-links to the base (so if A is a delta
+	 * against B, then A has a depth of 1, and B a depth of 0).
 	 */
 	enum {
 		DFS_NONE = 0,
 		DFS_ACTIVE,
 		DFS_DONE
 	} dfs_state;
+	int depth;
 };
 
 struct packing_data {
diff --git a/t/t5316-pack-delta-depth.sh b/t/t5316-pack-delta-depth.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..37143ea0ac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/t5316-pack-delta-depth.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,93 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+test_description='pack-objects breaks long cross-pack delta chains'
+. ./test-lib.sh
+
+# This mirrors a repeated push setup:
+#
+# 1. A client repeatedly modifies some files, makes a
+#      commit, and pushes the result. It does this N times
+#      before we get around to repacking.
+#
+# 2. Each push generates a thin pack with the new version of
+#    various objects. Let's consider some file in the root tree
+#    which is updated in each commit.
+#
+#    When generating push number X, we feed commit X-1 (and
+#    thus blob X-1) as a preferred base. The resulting pack has
+#    blob X as a thin delta against blob X-1.
+#
+#    On the receiving end, "index-pack --fix-thin" will
+#    complete the pack with a base copy of blob X-1.
+#
+# 3. In older versions of git, if we used the delta from
+#    pack X, then we'd always find blob X-1 as a base in the
+#    same pack (and generate a fresh delta).
+#
+#    But with the pack mru, we jump from delta to delta
+#    following the traversal order:
+#
+#      a. We grab blob X from pack X as a delta, putting it at
+#         the tip of our mru list.
+#
+#      b. Eventually we move onto commit X-1. We need other
+#         objects which are only in pack X-1 (in the test code
+#         below, it's the containing tree). That puts pack X-1
+#         at the tip of our mru list.
+#
+#      c. Eventually we look for blob X-1, and we find the
+#         version in pack X-1 (because it's the mru tip).
+#
+# Now we have blob X as a delta against X-1, which is a delta
+# against X-2, and so forth.
+#
+# In the real world, these small pushes would get exploded by
+# unpack-objects rather than "index-pack --fix-thin", but the
+# same principle applies to larger pushes (they only need one
+# repeatedly-modified file to generate the delta chain).
+
+test_expect_success 'create series of packs' '
+	test-genrandom foo 4096 >content &&
+	prev= &&
+	for i in $(test_seq 1 10)
+	do
+		cat content >file &&
+		echo $i >>file &&
+		git add file &&
+		git commit -m $i &&
+		cur=$(git rev-parse HEAD^{tree}) &&
+		{
+			test -n "$prev" && echo "-$prev"
+			echo $cur
+			echo "$(git rev-parse :file) file"
+		} | git pack-objects --stdout >tmp &&
+		git index-pack --stdin --fix-thin <tmp || return 1
+		prev=$cur
+	done
+'
+
+max_chain() {
+	git index-pack --verify-stat-only "$1" >output &&
+	perl -lne '
+	  /chain length = (\d+)/ and $len = $1;
+	  END { print $len }
+	' output
+}
+
+# Note that this whole setup is pretty reliant on the current
+# packing heuristics. We double-check that our test case
+# actually produces a long chain. If it doesn't, it should be
+# adjusted (or scrapped if the heuristics have become too unreliable)
+test_expect_success 'packing produces a long delta' '
+	# Use --window=0 to make sure we are seeing reused deltas,
+	# not computing a new long chain.
+	pack=$(git pack-objects --all --window=0 </dev/null pack) &&
+	test 9 = "$(max_chain pack-$pack.pack)"
+'
+
+test_expect_success '--depth limits depth' '
+	pack=$(git pack-objects --all --depth=5 </dev/null pack) &&
+	test 5 = "$(max_chain pack-$pack.pack)"
+'
+
+test_done