diff --git a/.github/workflows/debos.yml b/.github/workflows/debos.yml
index 84bcb903..1ad49ffd 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/debos.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/debos.yml
@@ -94,6 +94,7 @@ jobs:
               -t xfcedesktop:true \
               -t aptlocalrepo:${PWD}/local-apt-repo \
               -t kernelpackage:'${{ inputs.kernelpackage }}' \
+              -t "buildid:${BUILD_ID}" \
               --print-recipe \
               debos-recipes/qualcomm-linux-debian-rootfs.yaml
 
diff --git a/debos-recipes/qualcomm-linux-debian-rootfs.yaml b/debos-recipes/qualcomm-linux-debian-rootfs.yaml
index f0d68c82..9ab194a2 100644
--- a/debos-recipes/qualcomm-linux-debian-rootfs.yaml
+++ b/debos-recipes/qualcomm-linux-debian-rootfs.yaml
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 {{- $localdebs := or .localdebs "none" }}
 {{- $aptlocalrepo := or .aptlocalrepo "none" }}
 {{- $kernelpackage := or .kernelpackage "linux-image-arm64" }}
+{{- $buildid := or .buildid "" }}
 
 architecture: arm64
 
@@ -246,6 +247,22 @@ actions:
           update-locale LANG=en_US.UTF-8
       fi
 
+{{- if ne $buildid "" }}
+  - action: run
+    description: Set build ID and flavor in /etc/buildinfo
+    chroot: true
+    command: |
+      set -eux
+      touch /etc/buildinfo
+      chmod 644 /etc/buildinfo
+      echo "BUILD_ID={{$buildid}}" >>/etc/buildinfo
+{{- if eq $xfcedesktop "true" }}
+      echo "VARIANT_ID=xfce" >>/etc/buildinfo
+{{- else }}
+      echo "VARIANT_ID=console" >>/etc/buildinfo
+{{- end }}
+{{- end }}
+
   # usually these packages are pulled by Pre-Depends/Depends/Recommends of
   # Debian's linux-image, but kernel packages generated with the upstream
   # deb-pkg target don't have these dependencies, so install these before