diff --git a/gix-command/src/lib.rs b/gix-command/src/lib.rs
index 5f7710f6bb9..4ad7b5c2082 100644
--- a/gix-command/src/lib.rs
+++ b/gix-command/src/lib.rs
@@ -26,8 +26,10 @@ pub struct Prepare {
     pub args: Vec<OsString>,
     /// environment variables to set in the spawned process.
     pub env: Vec<(OsString, OsString)>,
-    /// If `true`, we will use `sh` to execute the `command`.
+    /// If `true`, we will use `shell_program` or `sh` to execute the `command`.
     pub use_shell: bool,
+    /// The name or path to the shell program to use instead of `sh`.
+    pub shell_program: Option<OsString>,
     /// If `true` (default `true` on windows and `false` everywhere else)
     /// we will see if it's safe to manually invoke `command` after splitting
     /// its arguments as a shell would do.
@@ -103,6 +105,12 @@ mod prepare {
             self
         }
 
+        /// Set the name or path to the shell `program` to use, to avoid using the default shell which is `sh`.
+        pub fn with_shell_program(mut self, program: impl Into<OsString>) -> Self {
+            self.shell_program = Some(program.into());
+            self
+        }
+
         /// Unconditionally turn off using the shell when spawning the command.
         /// Note that not using the shell is the default so an effective use of this method
         /// is some time after [`with_shell()`][Prepare::with_shell()] was called.
@@ -199,7 +207,10 @@ mod prepare {
                         cmd
                     }
                     None => {
-                        let mut cmd = Command::new(if cfg!(windows) { "sh" } else { "/bin/sh" });
+                        let mut cmd = Command::new(
+                            prep.shell_program
+                                .unwrap_or(if cfg!(windows) { "sh" } else { "/bin/sh" }.into()),
+                        );
                         cmd.arg("-c");
                         if !prep.args.is_empty() {
                             if prep.command.to_str().map_or(true, |cmd| !cmd.contains("$@")) {
@@ -417,6 +428,7 @@ pub mod shebang {
 pub fn prepare(cmd: impl Into<OsString>) -> Prepare {
     Prepare {
         command: cmd.into(),
+        shell_program: None,
         context: None,
         stdin: std::process::Stdio::null(),
         stdout: std::process::Stdio::piped(),
diff --git a/gix-command/tests/command.rs b/gix-command/tests/command.rs
index 6ded03a4309..bb69876278c 100644
--- a/gix-command/tests/command.rs
+++ b/gix-command/tests/command.rs
@@ -279,6 +279,24 @@ mod prepare {
         );
     }
 
+    #[test]
+    fn single_and_multiple_arguments_as_part_of_command_with_given_shell() {
+        let cmd = std::process::Command::from(
+            gix_command::prepare("ls first second third")
+                .with_shell()
+                .with_shell_program("/somepath/to/bash"),
+        );
+        assert_eq!(
+            format!("{cmd:?}"),
+            if cfg!(windows) {
+                quoted(&["ls", "first", "second", "third"])
+            } else {
+                quoted(&["/somepath/to/bash", "-c", "ls first second third", "--"])
+            },
+            "with shell, this works as it performs word splitting on Windows, but on linux (or without splitting) it uses the given shell"
+        );
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn single_and_complex_arguments_as_part_of_command_with_shell() {
         let cmd = std::process::Command::from(gix_command::prepare("ls --foo \"a b\"").arg("additional").with_shell());