diff --git a/py2pack/__init__.py b/py2pack/__init__.py
index 37d39a8..c9c1b27 100755
--- a/py2pack/__init__.py
+++ b/py2pack/__init__.py
@@ -23,7 +23,6 @@
 import json
 import os
 import pprint
-import pwd
 import re
 import sys
 import warnings
@@ -37,7 +36,7 @@
 from py2pack import version as py2pack_version
 from py2pack.utils import (_get_archive_filelist, get_pyproject_table,
                            parse_pyproject, get_setuptools_scripts,
-                           get_metadata)
+                           get_metadata, get_user_name)
 
 from email import parser
 
@@ -373,7 +372,7 @@ def generate(args):
     durl = newest_download_url(args)
     source_url = data['source_url'] = (args.source_url or (durl and durl['url']))
     data['year'] = datetime.datetime.now().year                             # set current year
-    data['user_name'] = pwd.getpwuid(os.getuid())[4]                        # set system user (packager)
+    data['user_name'] = get_user_name()                                     # set system user (packager)
     data['summary_no_ending_dot'] = re.sub(r'(.*)\.', r'\g<1>', data.get('summary')) if data.get('summary') else ""
 
     # If package name supplied on command line differs in case from PyPI's one
@@ -409,6 +408,7 @@ def generate(args):
 
     env = _prepare_template_env(_get_template_dirs())
     template = env.get_template(args.template)
+    data.update(args.options)                                               # update data with custom options
     result = template.render(data).encode('utf-8')                          # render template and encode properly
     outfile = open(args.filename, 'wb')                                     # write result to spec file
     try:
@@ -500,6 +500,7 @@ def main():
     parser_generate.add_argument('version', nargs='?', help='package version (optional)')
     parser_generate.add_argument('--source-url', default=None, help='source url')
     parser_generate.add_argument('--source-glob', help='source glob template')
+    parser_generate.add_argument('--setopt', action="append", help='A KEY=VALUE option (optional)', default=[])
     parser_generate.add_argument('--local', action='store_true', help='build from local package')
     parser_generate.add_argument('--localfile', default='', help='path to the local PKG-INFO or json metadata')
     parser_generate.add_argument('-t', '--template', choices=file_template_list(), default='opensuse.spec', help='file template')
@@ -526,6 +527,14 @@ def main():
 
     if 'func' not in args:
         sys.exit(parser.print_help())
+    if args.func == generate:
+        options = args.options = {}
+        for opt in args.setopt:
+            if '=' in opt:
+                key, value = opt.split('=', 1)
+                options[key] = value
+            else:
+                options[opt] = True
     args.func(args)
 
 
diff --git a/py2pack/utils.py b/py2pack/utils.py
index 3f24e3e..ce76a0e 100644
--- a/py2pack/utils.py
+++ b/py2pack/utils.py
@@ -195,3 +195,11 @@ def get_metadata(filename):
         data['install_requires'] = mdata.get_all('Requires-Dist')
 
     return data
+
+
+def get_user_name():
+    """get username"""
+    pwuid = pwd.getpwuid(os.getuid())
+    gecos = pwuid.pw_gecos  # or pwd.getpwuid(os.getuid())[4]
+    name = pwuid.pw_name  # or pwd.getpwuid(os.getuid())[0]
+    return gecos or name
diff --git a/test/test_py2pack.py b/test/test_py2pack.py
index 9726a6a..4b464ca 100644
--- a/test/test_py2pack.py
+++ b/test/test_py2pack.py
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ class Args:
             source_glob = None
             local = False
             localfile = ""
+            options = {}
 
         self.args = Args()
 
diff --git a/test/test_template.py b/test/test_template.py
index f3c0177..1a3d52b 100644
--- a/test/test_template.py
+++ b/test/test_template.py
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ class Args(object):
 
 compare_dir = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), 'examples')
 maxDiff = None
-username = pwd.getpwuid(os.getuid())[4]
+username = py2pack.get_user_name()
 
 
 @pytest.mark.parametrize('template, fetch_tarball',