diff --git a/Documentation/config.txt b/Documentation/config.txt
index a1e36d7e42..5561560a0f 100644
--- a/Documentation/config.txt
+++ b/Documentation/config.txt
@@ -705,6 +705,11 @@ color.ui::
 	terminal. When more specific variables of color.* are set, they always
 	take precedence over this setting. Defaults to false.
 
+commit.status
+	A boolean to enable/disable inclusion of status information in the
+	commit message template when using an editor to prepare the commit
+	message.  Defaults to true.
+
 commit.template::
 	Specify a file to use as the template for new commit messages.
 	"{tilde}/" is expanded to the value of `$HOME` and "{tilde}user/" to the
diff --git a/Documentation/git-commit.txt b/Documentation/git-commit.txt
index d227cec9ba..0e535184b1 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-commit.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-commit.txt
@@ -11,7 +11,8 @@ SYNOPSIS
 'git commit' [-a | --interactive] [-s] [-v] [-u<mode>] [--amend] [--dry-run]
 	   [(-c | -C) <commit>] [-F <file> | -m <msg>] [--reset-author]
 	   [--allow-empty] [--no-verify] [-e] [--author=<author>]
-	   [--cleanup=<mode>] [--] [[-i | -o ]<file>...]
+	   [--cleanup=<mode>] [--status | --no-status] [--]
+	   [[-i | -o ]<file>...]
 
 DESCRIPTION
 -----------
@@ -207,6 +208,17 @@ specified.
 	to be committed, paths with local changes that will be left
 	uncommitted and paths that are untracked.
 
+--status::
+	Include the output of linkgit:git-status[1] in the commit
+	message template when using an editor to prepare the commit
+	message.  Defaults to on, but can be used to override
+	configuration variable commit.status.
+
+--no-status::
+	Do not include the output of linkgit:git-status[1] in the
+	commit message template when using an editor to prepare the
+	default commit message.
+
 \--::
 	Do not interpret any more arguments as options.
 
diff --git a/builtin-commit.c b/builtin-commit.c
index e93a647c59..095c1869e8 100644
--- a/builtin-commit.c
+++ b/builtin-commit.c
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ static enum {
 } cleanup_mode;
 static char *cleanup_arg;
 
-static int use_editor = 1, initial_commit, in_merge;
+static int use_editor = 1, initial_commit, in_merge, include_status = 1;
 static const char *only_include_assumed;
 static struct strbuf message;
 
@@ -97,6 +97,7 @@ static struct option builtin_commit_options[] = {
 	OPT_BOOLEAN('s', "signoff", &signoff, "add Signed-off-by:"),
 	OPT_FILENAME('t', "template", &template_file, "use specified template file"),
 	OPT_BOOLEAN('e', "edit", &edit_flag, "force edit of commit"),
+	OPT_BOOLEAN(0, "status", &include_status, "include status in commit message template"),
 
 	OPT_GROUP("Commit contents options"),
 	OPT_BOOLEAN('a', "all", &all, "commit all changed files"),
@@ -547,7 +548,7 @@ static int prepare_to_commit(const char *index_file, const char *prefix,
 
 	/* This checks if committer ident is explicitly given */
 	git_committer_info(0);
-	if (use_editor) {
+	if (use_editor && include_status) {
 		char *author_ident;
 		const char *committer_ident;
 
@@ -1006,6 +1007,10 @@ static int git_commit_config(const char *k, const char *v, void *cb)
 
 	if (!strcmp(k, "commit.template"))
 		return git_config_pathname(&template_file, k, v);
+	if (!strcmp(k, "commit.status")) {
+		include_status = git_config_bool(k, v);
+		return 0;
+	}
 
 	return git_status_config(k, v, s);
 }