diff --git a/Documentation/merge-strategies.adoc b/Documentation/merge-strategies.adoc
index 59f5ae36cc..8c87dd7021 100644
--- a/Documentation/merge-strategies.adoc
+++ b/Documentation/merge-strategies.adoc
@@ -87,6 +87,20 @@ no-renames;;
 	configuration variable.
 	See also linkgit:git-diff[1] `--no-renames`.
 
+histogram;;
+	Deprecated synonym for `diff-algorithm=histogram`.
+
+patience;;
+	Deprecated synonym for `diff-algorithm=patience`.
+
+diff-algorithm=[histogram|minimal|myers|patience];;
+	Use a different diff algorithm while merging, which can help
+	avoid mismerges that occur due to unimportant matching lines
+	(such as braces from distinct functions).  See also
+	linkgit:git-diff[1] `--diff-algorithm`.  Note that `ort`
+	defaults to `diff-algorithm=histogram`, while regular diffs
+	currently default to the `diff.algorithm` config setting.
+
 subtree[=<path>];;
 	This option is a more advanced form of 'subtree' strategy, where
 	the strategy makes a guess on how two trees must be shifted to
@@ -111,20 +125,7 @@ recursive::
 For a path that is a submodule, the same caution as 'ort' applies to this
 strategy.
 +
-The 'recursive' strategy takes the same options as 'ort'.  However,
-there are two additional options that 'ort' ignores (not documented
-above) that are potentially useful with the 'recursive' strategy:
-
-patience;;
-	Deprecated synonym for `diff-algorithm=patience`.
-
-diff-algorithm=[patience|minimal|histogram|myers];;
-	Use a different diff algorithm while merging, which can help
-	avoid mismerges that occur due to unimportant matching lines
-	(such as braces from distinct functions).  See also
-	linkgit:git-diff[1] `--diff-algorithm`.  Note that `ort`
-	specifically uses `diff-algorithm=histogram`, while `recursive`
-	defaults to the `diff.algorithm` config setting.
+The 'recursive' strategy takes the same options as 'ort'.
 
 resolve::
 	This can only resolve two heads (i.e. the current branch
diff --git a/merge-ort.c b/merge-ort.c
index 2b7d86aa4e..14a7ae4a6b 100644
--- a/merge-ort.c
+++ b/merge-ort.c
@@ -4957,9 +4957,6 @@ static void merge_start(struct merge_options *opt, struct merge_result *result)
 	}
 	trace2_region_leave("merge", "sanity checks", opt->repo);
 
-	/* Default to histogram diff.  Actually, just hardcode it...for now. */
-	opt->xdl_opts = DIFF_WITH_ALG(opt, HISTOGRAM_DIFF);
-
 	/* Handle attr direction stuff for renormalization */
 	if (opt->renormalize)
 		git_attr_set_direction(GIT_ATTR_CHECKOUT);
diff --git a/merge-recursive.c b/merge-recursive.c
index 884ccf99a5..f3df127ad9 100644
--- a/merge-recursive.c
+++ b/merge-recursive.c
@@ -3981,6 +3981,7 @@ static void init_merge_options(struct merge_options *opt,
 	opt->renormalize = 0;
 
 	opt->conflict_style = -1;
+	opt->xdl_opts = DIFF_WITH_ALG(opt, HISTOGRAM_DIFF);
 
 	merge_recursive_config(opt, ui);
 	merge_verbosity = getenv("GIT_MERGE_VERBOSITY");