diff --git a/Gruntfile.js b/Gruntfile.js
index 0dc1fda52..2be2d23c0 100644
--- a/Gruntfile.js
+++ b/Gruntfile.js
@@ -392,9 +392,9 @@ module.exports = function(grunt) {
                 mode: '755'
             },
             release: {
-                // Target-specific file/dir lists and/or options go here.
                 src: [
-                    path.resolve('<%= paths.dist %>/node-red-<%= pkg.version %>/nodes/core/hardware/nrgpio*')
+                    path.resolve('<%= paths.dist %>/node-red-<%= pkg.version %>/nodes/core/hardware/nrgpio*'),
+                    path.resolve('<%= paths.dist %>/node-red-<%= pkg.version %>/red/runtime/storage/localfilesystem/projects/git/node-red-*sh')
                 ]
             }
         },
diff --git a/red/runtime/storage/localfilesystem/projects/git/index.js b/red/runtime/storage/localfilesystem/projects/git/index.js
index d36fed22e..a6f6e3229 100644
--- a/red/runtime/storage/localfilesystem/projects/git/index.js
+++ b/red/runtime/storage/localfilesystem/projects/git/index.js
@@ -105,6 +105,10 @@ function runGitCommandWithSSHCommand(args,cwd,auth) {
         commandEnv.NODE_RED_GIT_NODE_PATH = process.execPath;
         commandEnv.NODE_RED_GIT_SOCK_PATH = rs.path;
         commandEnv.NODE_RED_GIT_ASKPASS_PATH = path.join(__dirname,"authWriter.js");
+        // For git < 2.3.0
+        commandEnv.GIT_SSH = path.join(__dirname,"node-red-ssh.sh");
+        commandEnv.NODE_RED_KEY_FILE=auth.key_path;
+        // GIT_SSH_COMMAND - added in git 2.3.0
         commandEnv.GIT_SSH_COMMAND = "ssh -i " + auth.key_path + " -F /dev/null";
         // console.log('commandEnv:', commandEnv);
         return runGitCommand(args,cwd,commandEnv).finally(function() {
diff --git a/red/runtime/storage/localfilesystem/projects/git/node-red-ssh.sh b/red/runtime/storage/localfilesystem/projects/git/node-red-ssh.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..26a232f83
--- /dev/null
+++ b/red/runtime/storage/localfilesystem/projects/git/node-red-ssh.sh
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+ssh -i "$NODE_RED_KEY_FILE" -F /dev/null $@