diff --git a/libfwupd/fwupd-common.c b/libfwupd/fwupd-common.c
index e5332c986..ecc8b28ef 100644
--- a/libfwupd/fwupd-common.c
+++ b/libfwupd/fwupd-common.c
@@ -23,7 +23,9 @@
 
 #include "fwupd-common-private.h"
 
+#include <locale.h>
 #include <string.h>
+#include <sys/utsname.h>
 
 /**
  * fwupd_checksum_guess_kind:
@@ -133,3 +135,115 @@ fwupd_checksum_get_best (GPtrArray *checksums)
 	}
 	return NULL;
 }
+
+static gchar *
+fwupd_build_user_agent_os_release (void)
+{
+	const gchar *keys[] = { "NAME=", "VERSION_ID=", "VARIANT=", NULL };
+	const gchar *values[] = { NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL };
+	g_autofree gchar *os_release = NULL;
+	g_auto(GStrv) lines = NULL;
+	g_autoptr(GPtrArray) ids_os = g_ptr_array_new ();
+
+	/* get raw data then parse each line */
+	if (!g_file_get_contents ("/etc/os-release", &os_release, NULL, NULL)) {
+		if (!g_file_get_contents ("/usr/lib/os-release", &os_release, NULL, NULL))
+			return NULL;
+	}
+	lines = g_strsplit (os_release, "\n", -1);
+	for (guint i = 0; lines[i] != NULL; i++) {
+		for (guint j = 0; keys[j] != NULL; j++) {
+			if (g_str_has_prefix (lines[i], keys[j])) {
+				values[j] = lines[i] + strlen (keys[j]);
+				break;
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	/* create an array of the keys that exist */
+	for (guint j = 0; values[j] != NULL; j++) {
+		if (values[j] != NULL)
+			g_ptr_array_add (ids_os, (gpointer) values[j]);
+	}
+	if (ids_os->len == 0)
+		return NULL;
+	g_ptr_array_add (ids_os, NULL);
+	return g_strjoinv (" ", (gchar **) ids_os->pdata);
+}
+
+static gchar *
+fwupd_build_user_agent_system (void)
+{
+	struct utsname name_tmp = { 0 };
+	g_autofree gchar *locale = NULL;
+	g_autofree gchar *os_release = NULL;
+	g_autoptr(GPtrArray) ids = g_ptr_array_new_with_free_func (g_free);
+
+	/* system, architecture and kernel, e.g. "Linux i686 4.14.5" */
+	if (uname (&name_tmp) >= 0) {
+		g_ptr_array_add (ids, g_strdup_printf ("%s %s %s",
+						       name_tmp.sysname,
+						       name_tmp.machine,
+						       name_tmp.release));
+	}
+
+	/* current locale, e.g. "en-gb" */
+	locale = g_strdup (setlocale (LC_MESSAGES, NULL));
+	if (locale != NULL) {
+		g_strdelimit (locale, ".", '\0');
+		g_strdelimit (locale, "_", '-');
+		g_ptr_array_add (ids, g_steal_pointer (&locale));
+	}
+
+	/* OS release, e.g. "Fedora 27 Workstation" */
+	os_release = fwupd_build_user_agent_os_release ();
+	if (os_release != NULL)
+		g_ptr_array_add (ids, g_steal_pointer (&os_release));
+
+	/* convert to string */
+	if (ids->len == 0)
+		return NULL;
+	g_ptr_array_add (ids, NULL);
+	return g_strjoinv ("; ", (gchar **) ids->pdata);
+}
+
+/**
+ * fwupd_build_user_agent:
+ * @package_name: client program name, e.g. "gnome-software"
+ * @package_version: client program version, e.g. "3.28.1"
+ *
+ * Builds a user-agent to use for the download.
+ *
+ * Supplying harmless details to the server means it knows more about each
+ * client. This allows the web service to respond in a different way, for
+ * instance sending a different metadata file for old versions of fwupd, or
+ * returning an error for Solaris machines.
+ *
+ * Before freaking out about theoretical privacy implications, much more data
+ * than this is sent to each and every website you visit.
+ *
+ * Returns: a string, e.g. `foo/0.1 (Linux i386 4.14.5; en; Fedora 27) fwupd/1.0.3`
+ *
+ * Since: 1.0.3
+ **/
+gchar *
+fwupd_build_user_agent (const gchar *package_name, const gchar *package_version)
+{
+	GString *str = g_string_new (NULL);
+	g_autofree gchar *system = NULL;
+
+	/* application name and version */
+	g_string_append_printf (str, "%s/%s", package_name, package_version);
+
+	/* system information */
+	system = fwupd_build_user_agent_system ();
+	if (system != NULL)
+		g_string_append_printf (str, " (%s)", system);
+
+	/* platform, which in our case is just fwupd */
+	if (g_strcmp0 (package_name, "fwupd") != 0)
+		g_string_append_printf (str, " fwupd/%s", PACKAGE_VERSION);
+
+	/* success */
+	return g_string_free (str, FALSE);
+}
diff --git a/libfwupd/fwupd-common.h b/libfwupd/fwupd-common.h
index 9eae28cb0..b1f4e3282 100644
--- a/libfwupd/fwupd-common.h
+++ b/libfwupd/fwupd-common.h
@@ -34,5 +34,7 @@ const gchar	*fwupd_checksum_get_best		(GPtrArray	*checksums);
 const gchar	*fwupd_checksum_get_by_kind		(GPtrArray	*checksums,
 							 GChecksumType	 kind);
 GChecksumType	 fwupd_checksum_guess_kind		(const gchar	*checksum);
+gchar		*fwupd_build_user_agent			(const gchar	*package_name,
+							 const gchar	*package_version);
 
 #endif /* __FWUPD_COMMON_H */
diff --git a/libfwupd/fwupd.map b/libfwupd/fwupd.map
index e89476fd0..23bb7af32 100644
--- a/libfwupd/fwupd.map
+++ b/libfwupd/fwupd.map
@@ -215,3 +215,9 @@ LIBFWUPD_1.0.0 {
     fwupd_remote_to_variant;
   local: *;
 } LIBFWUPD_0.9.8;
+
+LIBFWUPD_1.0.3 {
+  global:
+    fwupd_build_user_agent;
+  local: *;
+} LIBFWUPD_1.0.0;
diff --git a/src/fu-util.c b/src/fu-util.c
index ed29644b4..1aaf3ab85 100644
--- a/src/fu-util.c
+++ b/src/fu-util.c
@@ -652,7 +652,7 @@ fu_util_download_file (FuUtilPrivate *priv,
 	}
 
 	/* create the soup session */
-	user_agent = g_strdup_printf ("%s/%s", PACKAGE_NAME, PACKAGE_VERSION);
+	user_agent = fwupd_build_user_agent (PACKAGE_NAME, PACKAGE_VERSION);
 	session = soup_session_new_with_options (SOUP_SESSION_USER_AGENT, user_agent,
 						 SOUP_SESSION_TIMEOUT, 60,
 						 NULL);