diff --git a/src/utility/rewrite_filesystem.cpp b/src/utility/rewrite_filesystem.cpp
index 5ecb82a2..a564a305 100644
--- a/src/utility/rewrite_filesystem.cpp
+++ b/src/utility/rewrite_filesystem.cpp
@@ -70,6 +70,7 @@ void rewrite_filesystem(logger& lgr, dwarfs::reader::filesystem_v2 const& fs,
   }
 
   size_t block_no{0};
+  bool seen_history{false};
 
   auto log_rewrite =
       [&](bool compressing, auto const& s,
@@ -172,6 +173,7 @@ void rewrite_filesystem(logger& lgr, dwarfs::reader::filesystem_v2 const& fs,
       break;
 
     case section_type::HISTORY:
+      seen_history = true;
       if (opts.enable_history) {
         history hist{opts.history};
         hist.parse(fs.get_history().serialize().span());
@@ -199,6 +201,18 @@ void rewrite_filesystem(logger& lgr, dwarfs::reader::filesystem_v2 const& fs,
     }
   }
 
+  if (!seen_history && opts.enable_history) {
+    history hist{opts.history};
+    hist.append(opts.command_line_arguments);
+
+    LOG_VERBOSE << "adding " << get_section_name(section_type::HISTORY)
+                << ", compressing using '"
+                << writer.get_compressor(section_type::HISTORY).describe()
+                << "'";
+
+    writer.write_history(hist.serialize());
+  }
+
   writer.flush();
 }
 
diff --git a/test/tool_main_test.cpp b/test/tool_main_test.cpp
index c90dd54f..77a3c7c9 100644
--- a/test/tool_main_test.cpp
+++ b/test/tool_main_test.cpp
@@ -1717,6 +1717,15 @@ TEST_P(mkdwarfs_recompress_test, recompress) {
     EXPECT_EQ(0, fs.get_history().size());
     EXPECT_EQ(1, fs.info_as_json(history_opts).count("history"));
     EXPECT_THAT(t.err(), ::testing::HasSubstr("removing HISTORY"));
+
+    auto t2 = tester(t.out());
+    EXPECT_EQ(0, t2.run({"-i", image_file, "-o", "-", "--recompress=none",
+                         "--log-level=verbose"}))
+        << t.err();
+    auto fs2 = t2.fs_from_stdout();
+    EXPECT_TRUE(fs2.find("/random"));
+    EXPECT_EQ(1, fs2.get_history().size());
+    EXPECT_THAT(t2.err(), ::testing::HasSubstr("adding HISTORY"));
   }
 
   {