diff --git a/ipxe-update.sh b/ipxe-update.sh
index d7f62d32..4b598cc9 100755
--- a/ipxe-update.sh
+++ b/ipxe-update.sh
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
 #!/bin/sh
+# Builds ipxe binaries from github sources or given tarball
+
+VERSION=v1.21.1
 
 ARCH=x86_64
 
@@ -11,11 +14,17 @@ EFI_output=`pwd`/staticfiles/${ARCH}.efi
 set -xe
 
 
-TMPDIR=`mktemp -d`
-cd "$TMPDIR"
+TMPDIR=`mktemp -d /tmp/ipxebuild.XXXXXX`
+if [ -f "$1" ] ; then
+  WRKDIR=`pwd`
+  cd "$TMPDIR"
+  tar xzf $WRKDIR/$1
+else
+  cd "$TMPDIR"
+  git clone --depth 1 --branch $VERSION https://github.com/ipxe/ipxe.git
+fi
 
-git clone https://github.com/ipxe/ipxe.git
-cd ipxe/src
+cd ipxe*/src
 
 sed -i.bak \
     -e 's,//\(#define.*CONSOLE_SERIAL.*\),\1,' \
diff --git a/staticfiles/README.md b/staticfiles/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..8e0e8b34
--- /dev/null
+++ b/staticfiles/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+# iPXE binaries
+Binaries can be rebuild with the `ixpe-update.sh` script.