diff --git a/Documentation/config.txt b/Documentation/config.txt
index 113d9d1438..871384eb73 100644
--- a/Documentation/config.txt
+++ b/Documentation/config.txt
@@ -389,6 +389,8 @@ core.whitespace::
   error (enabled by default).
 * `indent-with-non-tab` treats a line that is indented with 8 or more
   space characters as an error (not enabled by default).
+* `blank-at-eof` treats blank lines added at the end of file as an error
+  (enabled by default).
 * `cr-at-eol` treats a carriage-return at the end of line as
   part of the line terminator, i.e. with it, `trailing-space`
   does not trigger if the character before such a carriage-return
diff --git a/builtin-apply.c b/builtin-apply.c
index 80ddf55ba5..37d3bc069b 100644
--- a/builtin-apply.c
+++ b/builtin-apply.c
@@ -126,6 +126,7 @@ struct fragment {
 	const char *patch;
 	int size;
 	int rejected;
+	int linenr;
 	struct fragment *next;
 };
 
@@ -1193,6 +1194,7 @@ static int parse_single_patch(char *line, unsigned long size, struct patch *patc
 		int len;
 
 		fragment = xcalloc(1, sizeof(*fragment));
+		fragment->linenr = linenr;
 		len = parse_fragment(line, size, patch, fragment);
 		if (len <= 0)
 			die("corrupt patch at line %d", linenr);
@@ -2079,17 +2081,24 @@ static int apply_one_fragment(struct image *img, struct fragment *frag,
 	}
 
 	if (applied_pos >= 0) {
-		if (ws_error_action == correct_ws_error &&
-		    new_blank_lines_at_end &&
-		    preimage.nr + applied_pos == img->nr) {
+		if (new_blank_lines_at_end &&
+		    preimage.nr + applied_pos == img->nr &&
+		    (ws_rule & WS_BLANK_AT_EOF) &&
+		    ws_error_action != nowarn_ws_error) {
+			record_ws_error(WS_BLANK_AT_EOF, "+", 1, frag->linenr);
+			if (ws_error_action == correct_ws_error) {
+				while (new_blank_lines_at_end--)
+					remove_last_line(&postimage);
+			}
 			/*
-			 * If the patch application adds blank lines
-			 * at the end, and if the patch applies at the
-			 * end of the image, remove those added blank
-			 * lines.
+			 * We would want to prevent write_out_results()
+			 * from taking place in apply_patch() that follows
+			 * the callchain led us here, which is:
+			 * apply_patch->check_patch_list->check_patch->
+			 * apply_data->apply_fragments->apply_one_fragment
 			 */
-			while (new_blank_lines_at_end--)
-				remove_last_line(&postimage);
+			if (ws_error_action == die_on_ws_error)
+				apply = 0;
 		}
 
 		/*
diff --git a/cache.h b/cache.h
index 099a32e5fc..7152feaef2 100644
--- a/cache.h
+++ b/cache.h
@@ -845,7 +845,8 @@ void shift_tree(const unsigned char *, const unsigned char *, unsigned char *, i
 #define WS_SPACE_BEFORE_TAB	02
 #define WS_INDENT_WITH_NON_TAB	04
 #define WS_CR_AT_EOL           010
-#define WS_DEFAULT_RULE (WS_TRAILING_SPACE|WS_SPACE_BEFORE_TAB)
+#define WS_BLANK_AT_EOF        020
+#define WS_DEFAULT_RULE (WS_TRAILING_SPACE|WS_SPACE_BEFORE_TAB|WS_BLANK_AT_EOF)
 extern unsigned whitespace_rule_cfg;
 extern unsigned whitespace_rule(const char *);
 extern unsigned parse_whitespace_rule(const char *);
diff --git a/t/t4124-apply-ws-rule.sh b/t/t4124-apply-ws-rule.sh
index fedc8b9277..3a77a9af87 100755
--- a/t/t4124-apply-ws-rule.sh
+++ b/t/t4124-apply-ws-rule.sh
@@ -201,4 +201,30 @@ test_expect_success 'blank at end of hunk, not at EOF with --whitespace=fix' '
 	test_cmp expect one
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'blank at EOF with --whitespace=warn' '
+	{ echo a; echo b; echo c; } >one &&
+	git add one &&
+	echo >>one &&
+	cat one >expect &&
+	git diff -- one >patch &&
+
+	git checkout one &&
+	git apply --whitespace=warn patch 2>error &&
+	test_cmp expect one &&
+	grep "new blank line at EOF" error
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'blank at EOF with --whitespace=error' '
+	{ echo a; echo b; echo c; } >one &&
+	git add one &&
+	cat one >expect &&
+	echo >>one &&
+	git diff -- one >patch &&
+
+	git checkout one &&
+	test_must_fail git apply --whitespace=error patch 2>error &&
+	test_cmp expect one &&
+	grep "new blank line at EOF" error
+'
+
 test_done
diff --git a/ws.c b/ws.c
index 7a7ff130a3..d56636be7b 100644
--- a/ws.c
+++ b/ws.c
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ static struct whitespace_rule {
 	{ "space-before-tab", WS_SPACE_BEFORE_TAB },
 	{ "indent-with-non-tab", WS_INDENT_WITH_NON_TAB },
 	{ "cr-at-eol", WS_CR_AT_EOL },
+	{ "blank-at-eof", WS_BLANK_AT_EOF },
 };
 
 unsigned parse_whitespace_rule(const char *string)
@@ -113,6 +114,11 @@ char *whitespace_error_string(unsigned ws)
 			strbuf_addstr(&err, ", ");
 		strbuf_addstr(&err, "indent with spaces");
 	}
+	if (ws & WS_BLANK_AT_EOF) {
+		if (err.len)
+			strbuf_addstr(&err, ", ");
+		strbuf_addstr(&err, "new blank line at EOF");
+	}
 	return strbuf_detach(&err, NULL);
 }