diff --git a/config/path b/config/path
index 5efdea8b28..d53ee100ef 100644
--- a/config/path
+++ b/config/path
@@ -102,6 +102,8 @@ if [ -n "$PKG_URL" -a -z "$PKG_SOURCE_NAME" ]; then
     PKG_SOURCE_NAME=${PKG_NAME}-${PKG_VERSION}
   elif [[ ${PKG_URL} =~ ^file:// ]]; then
     PKG_SOURCE_NAME=${PKG_URL#file://}
+    # if no specific PKG_TAR_COPY_OPTS then default to excluding .git and .svn as they can be huge
+    [ -z "${PKG_TAR_COPY_OPTS+x}" ] && PKG_TAR_COPY_OPTS="--exclude=.git --exclude=.svn"
   else
     PKG_SOURCE_NAME="${PKG_URL##*/}"
     case $PKG_SOURCE_NAME in