diff --git a/Documentation/config.txt b/Documentation/config.txt
index b78747abc6..0460af37e2 100644
--- a/Documentation/config.txt
+++ b/Documentation/config.txt
@@ -2084,12 +2084,31 @@ ssh.variant::
 	Depending on the value of the environment variables `GIT_SSH` or
 	`GIT_SSH_COMMAND`, or the config setting `core.sshCommand`, Git
 	auto-detects whether to adjust its command-line parameters for use
-	with plink or tortoiseplink, as opposed to the default (OpenSSH).
+	with ssh (OpenSSH), plink or tortoiseplink, as opposed to the default
+	(simple).
 +
 The config variable `ssh.variant` can be set to override this auto-detection;
-valid values are `ssh`, `plink`, `putty` or `tortoiseplink`. Any other value
-will be treated as normal ssh. This setting can be overridden via the
-environment variable `GIT_SSH_VARIANT`.
+valid values are `ssh`, `simple`, `plink`, `putty` or `tortoiseplink`. Any
+other value will be treated as normal ssh. This setting can be overridden via
+the environment variable `GIT_SSH_VARIANT`.
++
+The current command-line parameters used for each variant are as
+follows:
++
+--
+
+* `ssh` - [-p port] [-4] [-6] [-o option] [username@]host command
+
+* `simple` - [username@]host command
+
+* `plink` or `putty` - [-P port] [-4] [-6] [username@]host command
+
+* `tortoiseplink` - [-P port] [-4] [-6] -batch [username@]host command
+
+--
++
+Except for the `simple` variant, command-line parameters are likely to
+change as git gains new features.
 
 i18n.commitEncoding::
 	Character encoding the commit messages are stored in; Git itself
diff --git a/Documentation/git.txt b/Documentation/git.txt
index 7518ea3af2..8bc3f21473 100644
--- a/Documentation/git.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git.txt
@@ -518,11 +518,10 @@ other
 	If either of these environment variables is set then 'git fetch'
 	and 'git push' will use the specified command instead of 'ssh'
 	when they need to connect to a remote system.
-	The command will be given exactly two or four arguments: the
-	'username@host' (or just 'host') from the URL and the shell
-	command to execute on that remote system, optionally preceded by
-	`-p` (literally) and the 'port' from the URL when it specifies
-	something other than the default SSH port.
+	The command-line parameters passed to the configured command are
+	determined by the ssh variant.  See `ssh.variant` option in
+	linkgit:git-config[1] for details.
+
 +
 `$GIT_SSH_COMMAND` takes precedence over `$GIT_SSH`, and is interpreted
 by the shell, which allows additional arguments to be included.
diff --git a/connect.c b/connect.c
index b8695a2fa2..7fbd396b35 100644
--- a/connect.c
+++ b/connect.c
@@ -776,37 +776,44 @@ static const char *get_ssh_command(void)
 	return NULL;
 }
 
-static int override_ssh_variant(int *port_option, int *needs_batch)
+enum ssh_variant {
+	VARIANT_SIMPLE,
+	VARIANT_SSH,
+	VARIANT_PLINK,
+	VARIANT_PUTTY,
+	VARIANT_TORTOISEPLINK,
+};
+
+static int override_ssh_variant(enum ssh_variant *ssh_variant)
 {
-	char *variant;
+	const char *variant = getenv("GIT_SSH_VARIANT");
 
-	variant = xstrdup_or_null(getenv("GIT_SSH_VARIANT"));
-	if (!variant &&
-	    git_config_get_string("ssh.variant", &variant))
+	if (!variant && git_config_get_string_const("ssh.variant", &variant))
 		return 0;
 
-	if (!strcmp(variant, "plink") || !strcmp(variant, "putty")) {
-		*port_option = 'P';
-		*needs_batch = 0;
-	} else if (!strcmp(variant, "tortoiseplink")) {
-		*port_option = 'P';
-		*needs_batch = 1;
-	} else {
-		*port_option = 'p';
-		*needs_batch = 0;
-	}
-	free(variant);
+	if (!strcmp(variant, "plink"))
+		*ssh_variant = VARIANT_PLINK;
+	else if (!strcmp(variant, "putty"))
+		*ssh_variant = VARIANT_PUTTY;
+	else if (!strcmp(variant, "tortoiseplink"))
+		*ssh_variant = VARIANT_TORTOISEPLINK;
+	else if (!strcmp(variant, "simple"))
+		*ssh_variant = VARIANT_SIMPLE;
+	else
+		*ssh_variant = VARIANT_SSH;
+
 	return 1;
 }
 
-static void handle_ssh_variant(const char *ssh_command, int is_cmdline,
-			       int *port_option, int *needs_batch)
+static enum ssh_variant determine_ssh_variant(const char *ssh_command,
+					      int is_cmdline)
 {
+	enum ssh_variant ssh_variant = VARIANT_SIMPLE;
 	const char *variant;
 	char *p = NULL;
 
-	if (override_ssh_variant(port_option, needs_batch))
-		return;
+	if (override_ssh_variant(&ssh_variant))
+		return ssh_variant;
 
 	if (!is_cmdline) {
 		p = xstrdup(ssh_command);
@@ -825,19 +832,22 @@ static void handle_ssh_variant(const char *ssh_command, int is_cmdline,
 			free(ssh_argv);
 		} else {
 			free(p);
-			return;
+			return ssh_variant;
 		}
 	}
 
-	if (!strcasecmp(variant, "plink") ||
-	    !strcasecmp(variant, "plink.exe"))
-		*port_option = 'P';
+	if (!strcasecmp(variant, "ssh") ||
+	    !strcasecmp(variant, "ssh.exe"))
+		ssh_variant = VARIANT_SSH;
+	else if (!strcasecmp(variant, "plink") ||
+		 !strcasecmp(variant, "plink.exe"))
+		ssh_variant = VARIANT_PLINK;
 	else if (!strcasecmp(variant, "tortoiseplink") ||
-		 !strcasecmp(variant, "tortoiseplink.exe")) {
-		*port_option = 'P';
-		*needs_batch = 1;
-	}
+		 !strcasecmp(variant, "tortoiseplink.exe"))
+		ssh_variant = VARIANT_TORTOISEPLINK;
+
 	free(p);
+	return ssh_variant;
 }
 
 /*
@@ -937,8 +947,7 @@ struct child_process *git_connect(int fd[2], const char *url,
 		conn->in = conn->out = -1;
 		if (protocol == PROTO_SSH) {
 			const char *ssh;
-			int needs_batch = 0;
-			int port_option = 'p';
+			enum ssh_variant variant;
 			char *ssh_host = hostandport;
 			const char *port = NULL;
 			transport_check_allowed("ssh");
@@ -965,10 +974,9 @@ struct child_process *git_connect(int fd[2], const char *url,
 				die("strange hostname '%s' blocked", ssh_host);
 
 			ssh = get_ssh_command();
-			if (ssh)
-				handle_ssh_variant(ssh, 1, &port_option,
-						   &needs_batch);
-			else {
+			if (ssh) {
+				variant = determine_ssh_variant(ssh, 1);
+			} else {
 				/*
 				 * GIT_SSH is the no-shell version of
 				 * GIT_SSH_COMMAND (and must remain so for
@@ -979,32 +987,38 @@ struct child_process *git_connect(int fd[2], const char *url,
 				ssh = getenv("GIT_SSH");
 				if (!ssh)
 					ssh = "ssh";
-				else
-					handle_ssh_variant(ssh, 0,
-							   &port_option,
-							   &needs_batch);
+				variant = determine_ssh_variant(ssh, 0);
 			}
 
 			argv_array_push(&conn->args, ssh);
 
-			if (get_protocol_version_config() > 0) {
+			if (variant == VARIANT_SSH &&
+			    get_protocol_version_config() > 0) {
 				argv_array_push(&conn->args, "-o");
 				argv_array_push(&conn->args, "SendEnv=" GIT_PROTOCOL_ENVIRONMENT);
 				argv_array_pushf(&conn->env_array, GIT_PROTOCOL_ENVIRONMENT "=version=%d",
 						 get_protocol_version_config());
 			}
 
-			if (flags & CONNECT_IPV4)
-				argv_array_push(&conn->args, "-4");
-			else if (flags & CONNECT_IPV6)
-				argv_array_push(&conn->args, "-6");
-			if (needs_batch)
+			if (variant != VARIANT_SIMPLE) {
+				if (flags & CONNECT_IPV4)
+					argv_array_push(&conn->args, "-4");
+				else if (flags & CONNECT_IPV6)
+					argv_array_push(&conn->args, "-6");
+			}
+
+			if (variant == VARIANT_TORTOISEPLINK)
 				argv_array_push(&conn->args, "-batch");
-			if (port) {
-				argv_array_pushf(&conn->args,
-						 "-%c", port_option);
+
+			if (port && variant != VARIANT_SIMPLE) {
+				if (variant == VARIANT_SSH)
+					argv_array_push(&conn->args, "-p");
+				else
+					argv_array_push(&conn->args, "-P");
+
 				argv_array_push(&conn->args, port);
 			}
+
 			argv_array_push(&conn->args, ssh_host);
 		} else {
 			transport_check_allowed("file");
diff --git a/t/t5601-clone.sh b/t/t5601-clone.sh
index 9c56f771b6..86811a0c35 100755
--- a/t/t5601-clone.sh
+++ b/t/t5601-clone.sh
@@ -309,8 +309,8 @@ test_expect_success 'clone checking out a tag' '
 setup_ssh_wrapper () {
 	test_expect_success 'setup ssh wrapper' '
 		cp "$GIT_BUILD_DIR/t/helper/test-fake-ssh$X" \
-			"$TRASH_DIRECTORY/ssh-wrapper$X" &&
-		GIT_SSH="$TRASH_DIRECTORY/ssh-wrapper$X" &&
+			"$TRASH_DIRECTORY/ssh$X" &&
+		GIT_SSH="$TRASH_DIRECTORY/ssh$X" &&
 		export GIT_SSH &&
 		export TRASH_DIRECTORY &&
 		>"$TRASH_DIRECTORY"/ssh-output
@@ -318,7 +318,7 @@ setup_ssh_wrapper () {
 }
 
 copy_ssh_wrapper_as () {
-	cp "$TRASH_DIRECTORY/ssh-wrapper$X" "${1%$X}$X" &&
+	cp "$TRASH_DIRECTORY/ssh$X" "${1%$X}$X" &&
 	GIT_SSH="${1%$X}$X" &&
 	export GIT_SSH
 }
@@ -362,10 +362,26 @@ test_expect_success 'bracketed hostnames are still ssh' '
 	expect_ssh "-p 123" myhost src
 '
 
-test_expect_success 'uplink is not treated as putty' '
+test_expect_success 'OpenSSH variant passes -4' '
+	git clone -4 "[myhost:123]:src" ssh-ipv4-clone &&
+	expect_ssh "-4 -p 123" myhost src
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'variant can be overriden' '
+	git -c ssh.variant=simple clone -4 "[myhost:123]:src" ssh-simple-clone &&
+	expect_ssh myhost src
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'simple is treated as simple' '
+	copy_ssh_wrapper_as "$TRASH_DIRECTORY/simple" &&
+	git clone -4 "[myhost:123]:src" ssh-bracket-clone-simple &&
+	expect_ssh myhost src
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'uplink is treated as simple' '
 	copy_ssh_wrapper_as "$TRASH_DIRECTORY/uplink" &&
 	git clone "[myhost:123]:src" ssh-bracket-clone-uplink &&
-	expect_ssh "-p 123" myhost src
+	expect_ssh myhost src
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'plink is treated specially (as putty)' '
diff --git a/t/t5700-protocol-v1.sh b/t/t5700-protocol-v1.sh
index b0779d3623..ba86a44eb1 100755
--- a/t/t5700-protocol-v1.sh
+++ b/t/t5700-protocol-v1.sh
@@ -147,6 +147,8 @@ test_expect_success 'push with file:// using protocol v1' '
 test_expect_success 'setup ssh wrapper' '
 	GIT_SSH="$GIT_BUILD_DIR/t/helper/test-fake-ssh" &&
 	export GIT_SSH &&
+	GIT_SSH_VARIANT=ssh &&
+	export GIT_SSH_VARIANT &&
 	export TRASH_DIRECTORY &&
 	>"$TRASH_DIRECTORY"/ssh-output
 '