diff --git a/Documentation/config.txt b/Documentation/config.txt
index 6e53fc507489fb2add3184998b8ec2a43e84b249..1983bf7427fc4b68244978a94525a3e23259b7f8 100644
--- a/Documentation/config.txt
+++ b/Documentation/config.txt
@@ -2066,6 +2066,10 @@ status.relativePaths::
 	relative to the repository root (this was the default for Git
 	prior to v1.5.4).
 
+status.short::
+	Set to true to enable --short by default in linkgit:git-status[1].
+	The option --no-short takes precedence over this variable.
+
 status.showUntrackedFiles::
 	By default, linkgit:git-status[1] and linkgit:git-commit[1] show
 	files which are not currently tracked by Git. Directories which
diff --git a/builtin/commit.c b/builtin/commit.c
index d2f30d960a71e41da88d6cc4201cbdca168b8648..b2f41dea20af1d7ba6ae0ffff2c09113ac0daf6c 100644
--- a/builtin/commit.c
+++ b/builtin/commit.c
@@ -1110,6 +1110,13 @@ static int git_status_config(const char *k, const char *v, void *cb)
 			s->submodule_summary = -1;
 		return 0;
 	}
+	if (!strcmp(k, "status.short")) {
+		if (git_config_bool(k, v))
+			status_format = STATUS_FORMAT_SHORT;
+		else
+			status_format = STATUS_FORMAT_NONE;
+		return 0;
+	}
 	if (!strcmp(k, "status.color") || !strcmp(k, "color.status")) {
 		s->use_color = git_config_colorbool(k, v);
 		return 0;
diff --git a/t/t7508-status.sh b/t/t7508-status.sh
index e2ffdacc267c22e369247791e24338a20badf94d..33cadd08c77ace0552e76f2a3b2f9be7f9040a6a 100755
--- a/t/t7508-status.sh
+++ b/t/t7508-status.sh
@@ -1335,4 +1335,34 @@ test_expect_failure '.git/config ignore=all suppresses submodule summary' '
 	git config -f .gitmodules  --remove-section submodule.subname
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'setup of test environment' '
+	git config status.showUntrackedFiles no &&
+	git status -s >expected_short &&
+	git status --no-short >expected_noshort
+'
+
+test_expect_success '"status.short=true" same as "-s"' '
+	git -c status.short=true status >actual &&
+	test_cmp expected_short actual
+'
+
+test_expect_success '"status.short=true" weaker than "--no-short"' '
+	git -c status.short=true status --no-short >actual &&
+	test_cmp expected_noshort actual
+'
+
+test_expect_success '"status.short=false" same as "--no-short"' '
+	git -c status.short=false status >actual &&
+	test_cmp expected_noshort actual
+'
+
+test_expect_success '"status.short=false" weaker than "-s"' '
+	git -c status.short=false status -s >actual &&
+	test_cmp expected_short actual
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'Restore default test environment' '
+	git config --unset status.showUntrackedFiles
+'
+
 test_done