diff --git a/t/README b/t/README
index 886bbec5bc..48fd4009e1 100644
--- a/t/README
+++ b/t/README
@@ -214,7 +214,7 @@ appropriately before running "make".
 --stress-limit=<N>::
 	When combined with --stress run the test script repeatedly
 	this many times in each of the parallel jobs or until one of
-	them fails, whichever comes first.
+	them fails, whichever comes first. Implies `--stress`.
 
 You can also set the GIT_TEST_INSTALLED environment variable to
 the bindir of an existing git installation to test that installation.
diff --git a/t/test-lib.sh b/t/test-lib.sh
index 8665b0a9b6..8553c1ff87 100644
--- a/t/test-lib.sh
+++ b/t/test-lib.sh
@@ -158,6 +158,7 @@ do
 		esac
 		;;
 	--stress-limit=*)
+		stress=t;
 		stress_limit=${opt#--*=}
 		case "$stress_limit" in
 		*[!0-9]*|0*|"")