diff --git a/builtin/gc.c b/builtin/gc.c
index 271376d82b..1bc2fe336e 100644
--- a/builtin/gc.c
+++ b/builtin/gc.c
@@ -144,6 +144,19 @@ static int too_many_packs(void)
 	return gc_auto_pack_limit <= cnt;
 }
 
+static void add_repack_all_option(void)
+{
+	if (prune_expire && !strcmp(prune_expire, "now"))
+		append_option(argv_repack, "-a", MAX_ADD);
+	else {
+		append_option(argv_repack, "-A", MAX_ADD);
+		if (prune_expire) {
+			append_option(argv_repack, "--unpack-unreachable", MAX_ADD);
+			append_option(argv_repack, prune_expire, MAX_ADD);
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 static int need_to_gc(void)
 {
 	/*
@@ -160,10 +173,7 @@ static int need_to_gc(void)
 	 * there is no need.
 	 */
 	if (too_many_packs())
-		append_option(argv_repack,
-			      prune_expire && !strcmp(prune_expire, "now") ?
-			      "-a" : "-A",
-			      MAX_ADD);
+		add_repack_all_option();
 	else if (!too_many_loose_objects())
 		return 0;
 
@@ -227,10 +237,7 @@ int cmd_gc(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 					"run \"git gc\" manually. See "
 					"\"git help gc\" for more information.\n"));
 	} else
-		append_option(argv_repack,
-			      prune_expire && !strcmp(prune_expire, "now")
-			      ? "-a" : "-A",
-			      MAX_ADD);
+		add_repack_all_option();
 
 	if (pack_refs && run_command_v_opt(argv_pack_refs, RUN_GIT_CMD))
 		return error(FAILED_RUN, argv_pack_refs[0]);
diff --git a/builtin/pack-objects.c b/builtin/pack-objects.c
index 7b07c092cc..1861093e9d 100644
--- a/builtin/pack-objects.c
+++ b/builtin/pack-objects.c
@@ -63,6 +63,7 @@ static uint32_t nr_objects, nr_alloc, nr_result, nr_written;
 static int non_empty;
 static int reuse_delta = 1, reuse_object = 1;
 static int keep_unreachable, unpack_unreachable, include_tag;
+static unsigned long unpack_unreachable_expiration;
 static int local;
 static int incremental;
 static int ignore_packed_keep;
@@ -2249,6 +2250,10 @@ static void loosen_unused_packed_objects(struct rev_info *revs)
 		if (!p->pack_local || p->pack_keep)
 			continue;
 
+		if (unpack_unreachable_expiration &&
+		    p->mtime < unpack_unreachable_expiration)
+			continue;
+
 		if (open_pack_index(p))
 			die("cannot open pack index");
 
@@ -2315,6 +2320,21 @@ static int option_parse_index_version(const struct option *opt,
 	return 0;
 }
 
+static int option_parse_unpack_unreachable(const struct option *opt,
+					   const char *arg, int unset)
+{
+	if (unset) {
+		unpack_unreachable = 0;
+		unpack_unreachable_expiration = 0;
+	}
+	else {
+		unpack_unreachable = 1;
+		if (arg)
+			unpack_unreachable_expiration = approxidate(arg);
+	}
+	return 0;
+}
+
 static int option_parse_ulong(const struct option *opt,
 			      const char *arg, int unset)
 {
@@ -2392,8 +2412,9 @@ int cmd_pack_objects(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 			 "include tag objects that refer to objects to be packed"),
 		OPT_BOOL(0, "keep-unreachable", &keep_unreachable,
 			 "keep unreachable objects"),
-		OPT_BOOL(0, "unpack-unreachable", &unpack_unreachable,
-			 "unpack unreachable objects"),
+		{ OPTION_CALLBACK, 0, "unpack-unreachable", NULL, "time",
+		  "unpack unreachable objects newer than <time>",
+		  PARSE_OPT_OPTARG, option_parse_unpack_unreachable },
 		OPT_BOOL(0, "thin", &thin,
 			 "create thin packs"),
 		OPT_BOOL(0, "honor-pack-keep", &ignore_packed_keep,
diff --git a/git-repack.sh b/git-repack.sh
index 624feec26f..757933174e 100755
--- a/git-repack.sh
+++ b/git-repack.sh
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ F               pass --no-reuse-object to git-pack-objects
 n               do not run git-update-server-info
 q,quiet         be quiet
 l               pass --local to git-pack-objects
+unpack-unreachable=  with -A, do not loosen objects older than this
  Packing constraints
 window=         size of the window used for delta compression
 window-memory=  same as the above, but limit memory size instead of entries count
@@ -33,6 +34,8 @@ do
 	-a)	all_into_one=t ;;
 	-A)	all_into_one=t
 		unpack_unreachable=--unpack-unreachable ;;
+	--unpack-unreachable)
+		unpack_unreachable="--unpack-unreachable=$2"; shift ;;
 	-d)	remove_redundant=t ;;
 	-q)	GIT_QUIET=t ;;
 	-f)	no_reuse=--no-reuse-delta ;;
@@ -76,7 +79,12 @@ case ",$all_into_one," in
 		if test -n "$existing" -a -n "$unpack_unreachable" -a \
 			-n "$remove_redundant"
 		then
-			args="$args $unpack_unreachable"
+			# This may have arbitrary user arguments, so we
+			# have to protect it against whitespace splitting
+			# when it gets run as "pack-objects $args" later.
+			# Fortunately, we know it's an approxidate, so we
+			# can just use dots instead.
+			args="$args $(echo "$unpack_unreachable" | tr ' ' .)"
 		fi
 	fi
 	;;
diff --git a/t/t7701-repack-unpack-unreachable.sh b/t/t7701-repack-unpack-unreachable.sh
index 200ab61278..b8d4cdea8c 100755
--- a/t/t7701-repack-unpack-unreachable.sh
+++ b/t/t7701-repack-unpack-unreachable.sh
@@ -95,4 +95,18 @@ test_expect_success 'unpacked objects receive timestamp of pack file' '
 	compare_mtimes < mtimes
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'do not bother loosening old objects' '
+	obj1=$(echo one | git hash-object -w --stdin) &&
+	obj2=$(echo two | git hash-object -w --stdin) &&
+	pack1=$(echo $obj1 | git pack-objects .git/objects/pack/pack) &&
+	pack2=$(echo $obj2 | git pack-objects .git/objects/pack/pack) &&
+	git prune-packed &&
+	git cat-file -p $obj1 &&
+	git cat-file -p $obj2 &&
+	test-chmtime =-86400 .git/objects/pack/pack-$pack2.pack &&
+	git repack -A -d --unpack-unreachable=1.hour.ago &&
+	git cat-file -p $obj1 &&
+	test_must_fail git cat-file -p $obj2
+'
+
 test_done