diff --git a/Documentation/config.txt b/Documentation/config.txt
index 676c39bb8436f35e1471b8dd50fd888ae1ac5c6b..9020675866e6af6252b83d7df0bb8bc78249f4a6 100644
--- a/Documentation/config.txt
+++ b/Documentation/config.txt
@@ -567,6 +567,10 @@ diff.autorefreshindex::
 	affects only 'git-diff' Porcelain, and not lower level
 	'diff' commands, such as 'git-diff-files'.
 
+diff.suppress-blank-empty::
+	A boolean to inhibit the standard behavior of printing a space
+	before each empty output line. Defaults to false.
+
 diff.external::
 	If this config variable is set, diff generation is not
 	performed using the internal diff machinery, but using the
diff --git a/diff.c b/diff.c
index bf5d5f15a3b54f1e1a0a2068990e899fd869d435..fe43407b78150fd7fffe0d1fdff3456346ea27a6 100644
--- a/diff.c
+++ b/diff.c
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 
 static int diff_detect_rename_default;
 static int diff_rename_limit_default = 200;
+static int diff_suppress_blank_empty;
 int diff_use_color_default = -1;
 static const char *external_diff_cmd_cfg;
 int diff_auto_refresh_index = 1;
@@ -176,6 +177,12 @@ int git_diff_basic_config(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb)
 		return 0;
 	}
 
+	/* like GNU diff's --suppress-blank-empty option  */
+	if (!strcmp(var, "diff.suppress-blank-empty")) {
+		diff_suppress_blank_empty = git_config_bool(var, value);
+		return 0;
+	}
+
 	if (!prefixcmp(var, "diff.")) {
 		const char *ep = strrchr(var, '.');
 		if (ep != var + 4) {
@@ -580,6 +587,12 @@ static void fn_out_consume(void *priv, char *line, unsigned long len)
 		ecbdata->label_path[0] = ecbdata->label_path[1] = NULL;
 	}
 
+	if (diff_suppress_blank_empty
+	    && len == 2 && line[0] == ' ' && line[1] == '\n') {
+		line[0] = '\n';
+		len = 1;
+	}
+
 	/* This is not really necessary for now because
 	 * this codepath only deals with two-way diffs.
 	 */
diff --git a/t/t4029-diff-trailing-space.sh b/t/t4029-diff-trailing-space.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..4ca65e033289fe4ac757a3f19ecd3169bdb434e4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/t4029-diff-trailing-space.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+#
+# Copyright (c) Jim Meyering
+#
+test_description='diff honors config option, diff.suppress-blank-empty'
+
+. ./test-lib.sh
+
+cat <<\EOF > exp ||
+diff --git a/f b/f
+index 5f6a263..8cb8bae 100644
+--- a/f
++++ b/f
+@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
+
+-x
++y
+EOF
+exit 1
+
+test_expect_success \
+    "$test_description" \
+    'printf "\nx\n" > f &&
+     git add f &&
+     git commit -q -m. f &&
+     printf "\ny\n" > f &&
+     git config --bool diff.suppress-blank-empty true &&
+     git diff f > actual &&
+     test_cmp exp actual &&
+     perl -i.bak -p -e "s/^\$/ /" exp &&
+     git config --bool diff.suppress-blank-empty false &&
+     git diff f > actual &&
+     test_cmp exp actual &&
+     git config --bool --unset diff.suppress-blank-empty &&
+     git diff f > actual &&
+     test_cmp exp actual
+     '
+
+test_done