diff --git a/cmd/skopeo/flag.go b/cmd/skopeo/flag.go
index 89774ebd98..88082b7040 100644
--- a/cmd/skopeo/flag.go
+++ b/cmd/skopeo/flag.go
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package main
 
 import (
+	"fmt"
 	"strconv"
 
 	"github.com/urfave/cli"
@@ -73,3 +74,37 @@ func (ob *optionalStringValue) String() string {
 	}
 	return ob.value
 }
+
+// optionalInt is a int with a separate presence flag.
+type optionalInt struct {
+	present bool
+	value   int
+}
+
+// optionalInt is a cli.Generic == flag.Value implementation equivalent to
+// the one underlying flag.Int, except that it records whether the flag has been set.
+// This is distinct from optionalInt to (pretend to) force callers to use
+// newoptionalInt
+type optionalIntValue optionalInt
+
+func newOptionalIntValue(p *optionalInt) cli.Generic {
+	p.present = false
+	return (*optionalIntValue)(p)
+}
+
+func (ob *optionalIntValue) Set(s string) error {
+	v, err := strconv.Atoi(s)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	ob.value = v
+	ob.present = true
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (ob *optionalIntValue) String() string {
+	if !ob.present {
+		return "" // This is, sadly, not round-trip safe: --flag= is interpreted as {present:true, value:""}
+	}
+	return fmt.Sprintf("%d", ob.value)
+}