diff --git a/makejdk-any-platform.1 b/makejdk-any-platform.1
index a052497ff..c16e838d9 100755
--- a/makejdk-any-platform.1
+++ b/makejdk-any-platform.1
@@ -30,6 +30,10 @@ Note that the main argument, in this case jdk8, is compared and enforced
 against an enumeration - jdk8, jdk8u, ... jdk21, jdk21u, ...jdk. Nothing else.
 You can workaround this by \-\-version switch.
 
+"./makejdk-any-platform.sh -l my/dir/or/archive.tar.gz jdk22u"
+
+This will start a build of Java 22 from your local sources
+
 Please visit https://www.adoptium.net for further support
 
 .SH VERSIONS
@@ -131,6 +135,11 @@ the one you are trying to build.
 .BR \-k ", " \-\-keep
 if using docker, keep the container after the build.
 .TP
+.BR  \-l ", " \-\-openjdk\-source\-location " " \fI<dir/archive>\fR
+If set, must point to directory or archive with valid OpenJDK source code.
+This local source code will be used instead of cloning from a git repository and without any git tag or git reset.
+You still have to set the version argument though, and it is recommended that you add \-\-tag too so that the top level directory names in the output, as well as the details in "java -version" are created correctly.
+.TP
 .BR \-\-make-args " " \fI<args>\fR
 specify any custom user make arguments.
 .TP
@@ -199,6 +208,8 @@ specify the vendor vm bug url
 .TP
 .BR \-v ", " \-\-version " " \fI<version>\fR
 specify the OpenJDK version to build e.g. jdk8u.  Left for backwards compatibility.
+Useful, when cloning a repo with a non-uniform name, e.g., shenandoah-jdk8u (main version argument),
+to tell the build that you are effectively building a jdk8u binary.
 .TP
 .BR \-V ", " \-\-jvm-variant " " \fI<jvm_variant>\fR
 specify the JVM variant (server or client), defaults to server.
diff --git a/sbin/build.sh b/sbin/build.sh
index 172ede760..aa1b4e260 100755
--- a/sbin/build.sh
+++ b/sbin/build.sh
@@ -183,8 +183,9 @@ configureMacOSCodesignParameter() {
 # Get the OpenJDK update version and build version
 getOpenJDKUpdateAndBuildVersion() {
   cd "${BUILD_CONFIG[WORKSPACE_DIR]}/${BUILD_CONFIG[WORKING_DIR]}"
-
-  if [ -d "${BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_SOURCE_DIR]}/.git" ]; then
+  if [ "${BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_LOCAL_SOURCE_ARCHIVE]}" == "true" ]; then
+    echo "Version: local dir; OPENJDK_BUILD_NUMBER set as ${BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_BUILD_NUMBER]}"
+  elif [ -d "${BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_SOURCE_DIR]}/.git" ]; then
 
     # It does exist and it's a repo other than the Temurin one
     cd "${BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_SOURCE_DIR]}" || return
@@ -232,7 +233,9 @@ patchFreetypeWindows() {
 getOpenJdkVersion() {
   local version
 
-  if [ "${BUILD_CONFIG[BUILD_VARIANT]}" == "${BUILD_VARIANT_CORRETTO}" ]; then
+  if [ "${BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_LOCAL_SOURCE_ARCHIVE]}" == "true" ]; then
+    version=${BUILD_CONFIG[TAG]:-$(createDefaultTag)}
+  elif [ "${BUILD_CONFIG[BUILD_VARIANT]}" == "${BUILD_VARIANT_CORRETTO}" ]; then
     local corrVerFile=${BUILD_CONFIG[WORKSPACE_DIR]}/${BUILD_CONFIG[WORKING_DIR]}/${BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_SOURCE_DIR]}/version.txt
 
     local corrVersion="$(cut -d'.' -f 1 <"${corrVerFile}")"
@@ -1819,10 +1822,25 @@ getLatestTagJDK11plus() {
   fi
 }
 
+createDefaultTag() {
+  if [ "${BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_FEATURE_NUMBER]}" == "8" ]; then
+    echo "WARNING: Could not identify latest tag but the ADOPT_BRANCH_SAFETY flag is off so defaulting to 8u000-b00" 1>&2
+    echo "8u000-b00"
+  else
+    echo "WARNING: Could not identify the latest tag, but the ADOPT_BRANCH_SAFETY flag is off, so defaulting to jdk-${BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_FEATURE_NUMBER]}.0.0+0" 1>&2
+    echo "jdk-${BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_FEATURE_NUMBER]}.0.0+0"
+  fi
+}
+
 # Get the tags from the git repo and choose the latest numerically ordered tag for the given JDK version.
 #
 getFirstTagFromOpenJDKGitRepo() {
 
+  if [ "${BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_LOCAL_SOURCE_ARCHIVE]}" == "true" ]; then
+    echo "You are building from a local source snapshot. getFirstTagFromOpenJDKGitRepo is not allowed"  1>&2
+    exit 1
+  fi
+
   # Save current directory of caller so we can return to that directory at the end of this function.
   # Some callers are not in the git repo root, but instead build root sub-directory like the archive functions
   # and any function called after cleanAndMoveArchiveFiles().
@@ -1866,13 +1884,7 @@ getFirstTagFromOpenJDKGitRepo() {
     # repository that doesn't have the same tags, so allow defaults. For a better
     # options see https://github.com/adoptium/temurin-build/issues/2671
     if [ "${BUILD_CONFIG[DISABLE_ADOPT_BRANCH_SAFETY]}" == "true" ]; then
-      if [ "${BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_FEATURE_NUMBER]}" == "8" ]; then
-         echo "WARNING: Could not identify latest tag but the ADOPT_BRANCH_SAFETY flag is off so defaulting to 8u000-b00" 1>&2
-         echo "8u000-b00"
-      else
-         echo "WARNING: Could not identify latest tag but the ADOPT_BRANCH_SAFETY flag is off so defaulting to jdk-${BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_FEATURE_NUMBER]}.0.0+0" 1>&2
-         echo "jdk-${BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_FEATURE_NUMBER]}.0.0+0"
-      fi
+      createDefaultTag
     else
       echo "WARNING: Failed to identify latest tag in the repository" 1>&2
     fi
diff --git a/sbin/common/config_init.sh b/sbin/common/config_init.sh
index 79884278a..6a42ae274 100755
--- a/sbin/common/config_init.sh
+++ b/sbin/common/config_init.sh
@@ -82,6 +82,8 @@ OPENJDK_BUILD_NUMBER
 OPENJDK_CORE_VERSION
 OPENJDK_FEATURE_NUMBER
 OPENJDK_FOREST_NAME
+OPENJDK_LOCAL_SOURCE_ARCHIVE
+OPENJDK_LOCAL_SOURCE_ARCHIVE_ABSPATH
 OPENJDK_SOURCE_DIR
 OPENJDK_UPDATE_VERSION
 OS_KERNEL_NAME
@@ -308,7 +310,7 @@ function parseConfigurationArguments() {
         BUILD_CONFIG[REUSE_CONTAINER]=false;;
 
         "--jdk-boot-dir" | "-J" )
-        BUILD_CONFIG[JDK_BOOT_DIR]="$1";shift;;
+        BUILD_CONFIG[JDK_BOOT_DIR]="$1"; shift;;
 
         "--cross-compile" )
         BUILD_CONFIG[CROSSCOMPILE]=true;;
@@ -319,6 +321,9 @@ function parseConfigurationArguments() {
         "--no-adopt-patches" )
         BUILD_CONFIG[ADOPT_PATCHES]=false;;
 
+        "--openjdk-source-location" | "-l" )
+        setOpenjdkSourceDir "${1}"; shift;;
+
         "--patches" )
         BUILD_CONFIG[PATCHES]="$1"; shift;;
 
@@ -417,6 +422,23 @@ function setBranch() {
   BUILD_CONFIG[BRANCH]=${BUILD_CONFIG[BRANCH]:-$branch}
 }
 
+# Set the local dir if used
+function setOpenjdkSourceDir() {
+  if [ ! -e "${1}" ] ; then
+    echo "You have specified -l/--openjdk-source-location, but '${1}' does not exist"
+    exit 1
+  fi
+  BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_LOCAL_SOURCE_ARCHIVE_ABSPATH]=$(readlink -f "$1");
+  if [ ! -e "${BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_LOCAL_SOURCE_ARCHIVE_ABSPATH]}" ] ; then
+    echo "You have specified -l/--openjdk-source-location, but '${BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_LOCAL_SOURCE_ARCHIVE_ABSPATH]}' does not exist"
+    exit 1
+  fi
+  BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_LOCAL_SOURCE_ARCHIVE]="true";
+  if [ -z "${BUILD_CONFIG[TAG]}" ] ; then
+    echo "WARNING: You have not yet specified --tag. It is strongly recommended you do so, otherwise a default one will be provided."
+  fi
+}
+
 # Set the config defaults
 function configDefaults() {
 
@@ -464,6 +486,12 @@ function configDefaults() {
   # The full forest name, e.g. jdk8, jdk8u, jdk9, jdk9u, etc.
   BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_FOREST_NAME]=""
 
+  # whether the forest is local directory or not
+  BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_LOCAL_SOURCE_ARCHIVE]="false"
+
+  # whether the forest is local directory or not
+  BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_LOCAL_SOURCE_ARCHIVE_ABSPATH]=""
+
   # The abridged openjdk core version name, e.g. jdk8, jdk9, etc.
   BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_CORE_VERSION]=""
 
diff --git a/sbin/prepareWorkspace.sh b/sbin/prepareWorkspace.sh
index d2ad91dc8..79ed8acd1 100644
--- a/sbin/prepareWorkspace.sh
+++ b/sbin/prepareWorkspace.sh
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@
 ################################################################################
 
 set -eu
-
 SCRIPT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)"
 
 # shellcheck source=sbin/common/constants.sh
@@ -38,6 +37,64 @@ ALSA_LIB_CHECKSUM=${ALSA_LIB_CHECKSUM:-5f2cd274b272cae0d0d111e8a9e363f0878332915
 ALSA_LIB_GPGKEYID=${ALSA_LIB_GPGKEYID:-A6E59C91}
 FREETYPE_FONT_SHARED_OBJECT_FILENAME="libfreetype.so*"
 
+
+copyFromDir() {
+  echo "Copying OpenJDK source from  ${BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_LOCAL_SOURCE_ARCHIVE_ABSPATH]} to $(pwd)/${BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_SOURCE_DIR]} to be built"
+  # We really do not want to use .git for dirs, as we expect user have them set up, ignoring them
+  local files=$(find "${BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_LOCAL_SOURCE_ARCHIVE_ABSPATH]}" -maxdepth 1 -mindepth 1 | grep -v -e "/workspace$" -e "/build$" -e "/.git" -e -"/build/")
+  # SC2086 (info): Double quote to prevent globbing and word splitting.
+  # globbing is intentional here
+  # shellcheck disable=SC2086
+  cp -rf $files "./${BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_SOURCE_DIR]}/"
+}
+
+# this is workarounding --strip-components 1 missing on gnu tar
+# it requires  absolute tar-filepath as it changes dir and is hardcoded to one
+# similar approach can be used also for zip in future
+untarGnuAbsPathWithStripComponents1() {
+  local tmp=$(mktemp -d)
+  pushd "$tmp" > /dev/null
+    tar "$@"
+  popd  > /dev/null
+  mv "$tmp"/*/* .
+  mv "$tmp"/*/.* . || echo "no hidden files in tarball"
+  rmdir "$tmp"/*
+  rmdir "$tmp"
+}
+
+unpackFromArchive() {
+  echo "Extracting OpenJDK source tarball ${BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_LOCAL_SOURCE_ARCHIVE_ABSPATH]} to $(pwd)/${BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_SOURCE_DIR]} to build the binary"
+  # If the tarball contains .git files, they should be ignored later
+  # todo, support also zips?
+  pushd "./${BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_SOURCE_DIR]}"
+    local topLevelItems=$(tar --exclude='*/*' -tf  "${BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_LOCAL_SOURCE_ARCHIVE_ABSPATH]}"  | grep "/$" -c) || local topLevelItems=1
+    if [ "$topLevelItems" -eq "1" ] ; then
+      echo "Source tarball contains exactly one directory"
+      untarGnuAbsPathWithStripComponents1 -xf "${BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_LOCAL_SOURCE_ARCHIVE_ABSPATH]}"
+    else
+      echo "Source tarball does not contain a top level directory"
+      tar -xf "${BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_LOCAL_SOURCE_ARCHIVE_ABSPATH]}"
+    fi
+    rm -rf "build"
+  popd
+}
+
+copyFromDirOrUnpackFromArchive() {
+  echo "Cleaning the copy of OpenJDK source repository from $(pwd)/${BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_SOURCE_DIR]} and replacing with a fresh copy in 10 seconds..."
+  verboseSleep	 10
+  rm -rf "./${BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_SOURCE_DIR]}"
+  mkdir  "./${BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_SOURCE_DIR]}"
+  # Note that we are not persisting the build directory
+  if [ -d "${BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_LOCAL_SOURCE_ARCHIVE_ABSPATH]}" ] ; then
+    copyFromDir
+  elif [ -f "${BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_LOCAL_SOURCE_ARCHIVE_ABSPATH]}" ] ; then
+    unpackFromArchive
+  else
+    echo "${BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_LOCAL_SOURCE_ARCHIVE_ABSPATH]} is not a directory or a file "
+    exit 1
+  fi
+}
+
 # Create a new clone or update the existing clone of the OpenJDK source repo
 # TODO refactor this for Single Responsibility Principle (SRP)
 checkoutAndCloneOpenJDKGitRepo() {
@@ -45,7 +102,7 @@ checkoutAndCloneOpenJDKGitRepo() {
   cd "${BUILD_CONFIG[WORKSPACE_DIR]}/${BUILD_CONFIG[WORKING_DIR]}"
 
   # Check that we have a git repo, we assume that it is a repo that contains openjdk source
-  if [ -d "${BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_SOURCE_DIR]}/.git" ]; then
+  if [ -d "${BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_SOURCE_DIR]}/.git" ] && [ "${BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_LOCAL_SOURCE_ARCHIVE]}" == "false" ]; then
     set +e
     git --git-dir "${BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_SOURCE_DIR]}/.git" remote -v
     echo "${BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_CORE_VERSION]}"
@@ -79,6 +136,8 @@ checkoutAndCloneOpenJDKGitRepo() {
       echo "If this is inside a docker you can purge the existing source by passing --clean-docker-build"
       exit 1
     fi
+  elif [ "${BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_LOCAL_SOURCE_ARCHIVE]}" == "true" ]; then
+    copyFromDirOrUnpackFromArchive
   elif [ ! -d "${BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_SOURCE_DIR]}/.git" ]; then
     echo "Could not find a valid openjdk git repository at $(pwd)/${BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_SOURCE_DIR]} so re-cloning the source to openjdk"
     rm -rf "${BUILD_CONFIG[WORKSPACE_DIR]:?}/${BUILD_CONFIG[WORKING_DIR]}/${BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_SOURCE_DIR]}"
@@ -107,8 +166,9 @@ checkoutAndCloneOpenJDKGitRepo() {
     fi
   fi
 
-  git clean -ffdx
-
+  if [ "${BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_LOCAL_SOURCE_ARCHIVE]}" == "false" ]; then
+    git clean -ffdx
+  fi
   updateOpenj9Sources
 
   createSourceTagFile
@@ -119,6 +179,17 @@ checkoutAndCloneOpenJDKGitRepo() {
 # Checkout the required code to build from the given cached git repo
 # Set checkoutRc to result so we can retry
 checkoutRequiredCodeToBuild() {
+
+  if [ "${BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_LOCAL_SOURCE_ARCHIVE]}" == "true" ]; then
+    echo "Skipping checkoutRequiredCodeToBuild - local directory under processing:"
+    echo "  workspace = ${BUILD_CONFIG[WORKSPACE_DIR]}/${BUILD_CONFIG[WORKING_DIR]}/${BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_SOURCE_DIR]}"
+    echo "  BUILD_VARIANT = ${BUILD_CONFIG[BUILD_VARIANT]}"
+    echo "  TAG = ${BUILD_CONFIG[TAG]} - Used only in name, if at all"
+    echo "  BRANCH = ${BUILD_CONFIG[BRANCH]} - UNUSED!"
+    checkoutRc=0
+    return
+  fi
+
   checkoutRc=1
 
   cd "${BUILD_CONFIG[WORKSPACE_DIR]}/${BUILD_CONFIG[WORKING_DIR]}/${BUILD_CONFIG[OPENJDK_SOURCE_DIR]}"