diff --git a/simdutf/6.1.0-git.patch b/simdutf/6.1.0-git.patch
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..7c4752d0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/simdutf/6.1.0-git.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,98 @@
+From 4aae0949687f87a77a9841ca3729f68ab0b286dd Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
+From: Daniel Lemire <daniel@lemire.me>
+Date: Thu, 23 Jan 2025 19:49:49 -0500
+Subject: [PATCH 1/3] making the amalgamation script more robust
+
+---
+ singleheader/amalgamate.py | 6 ++++--
+ 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
+
+diff --git a/singleheader/amalgamate.py b/singleheader/amalgamate.py
+index 5b18ea16..ffa25ac5 100755
+--- a/singleheader/amalgamate.py
++++ b/singleheader/amalgamate.py
+@@ -233,11 +233,13 @@ def get_timestamp():
+                              stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
+ 
+         if ret.returncode != 0:
+-            raise ValueError(f"non-zero exit code {ret.returncode}")
++            print(f"git called resulted in non-zero exit code {ret.returncode}")
++            print("timestamp based on current time")
++            return str(datetime.datetime.now())
+ 
+         return ret.stdout.decode('utf-8').strip()
+     except (UnicodeDecodeError, FileNotFoundError):
+-        print("git not found, timestamp based on current time")
++        print("UnicodeDecodeError or FileNotFoundError, timestamp based on current time")
+         return str(datetime.datetime.now())
+ 
+ 
+
+From 20bc091b3843ae502fae02e5f7e22c1b8f4eb5e2 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
+From: Paul Dreik <github@pauldreik.se>
+Date: Fri, 24 Jan 2025 06:35:49 +0100
+Subject: [PATCH 2/3] run git in the correct directory
+
+this fixes a problem of building outside the git repository,
+which my IDE does by default.
+
+like this:
+cd /somewhere/else
+cmake -B /tmp/outside -S /path/to/simdutf/
+---
+ singleheader/amalgamate.py | 2 +-
+ 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)
+
+diff --git a/singleheader/amalgamate.py b/singleheader/amalgamate.py
+index ffa25ac5..36b9981a 100755
+--- a/singleheader/amalgamate.py
++++ b/singleheader/amalgamate.py
+@@ -229,7 +229,7 @@ def get_timestamp():
+     # Forcing it to be UTC is difficult, because it needs to be portable
+     # between gnu date and busybox date.
+     try:
+-        ret = subprocess.run(['git', 'show', '-s', '--format=%ci', 'HEAD'],
++        ret = subprocess.run(['git', '-C', SCRIPTPATH, 'show', '-s', '--format=%ci', 'HEAD'],
+                              stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
+ 
+         if ret.returncode != 0:
+
+From 13d280ae8834b84a34515c551b58eca68a5bb68b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
+From: Paul Dreik <github@pauldreik.se>
+Date: Fri, 24 Jan 2025 06:52:36 +0100
+Subject: [PATCH 3/3] prevent amalgamation from picking up timestamp from
+ parent git repo
+
+---
+ singleheader/amalgamate.py | 10 +++++++++-
+ 1 file changed, 9 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
+
+diff --git a/singleheader/amalgamate.py b/singleheader/amalgamate.py
+index 36b9981a..d600647e 100755
+--- a/singleheader/amalgamate.py
++++ b/singleheader/amalgamate.py
+@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
+ import os.path
+ import subprocess
+ import os
++import pathlib
+ import re
+ import shutil
+ import datetime
+@@ -229,8 +230,15 @@ def get_timestamp():
+     # Forcing it to be UTC is difficult, because it needs to be portable
+     # between gnu date and busybox date.
+     try:
++        # avoid git going outside simdutf, which could happen when
++        # unpacking a release tarball inside a subdirectory of an unrelated
++        # git repository. that would lead to picking up the timestamp of the
++        # unrelated git repository.
++        parent = pathlib.Path(SCRIPTPATH).absolute().parent
++        GIT_CEILING_DIRECTORIES = str(parent)
+         ret = subprocess.run(['git', '-C', SCRIPTPATH, 'show', '-s', '--format=%ci', 'HEAD'],
+-                             stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
++                             stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
++                             env=dict(os.environ, GIT_CEILING_DIRECTORIES=GIT_CEILING_DIRECTORIES))
+ 
+         if ret.returncode != 0:
+             print(f"git called resulted in non-zero exit code {ret.returncode}")