diff --git a/contrib/completion/git-completion.bash b/contrib/completion/git-completion.bash
index 700d44af5bedb4bdcc6260bad5904e3fe869358c..9147fba3d5c34e617f94129b02459d4579595da8 100644
--- a/contrib/completion/git-completion.bash
+++ b/contrib/completion/git-completion.bash
@@ -39,6 +39,11 @@
 #     When set to "1", do not include "DWIM" suggestions in git-checkout
 #     and git-switch completion (e.g., completing "foo" when "origin/foo"
 #     exists).
+#
+#   GIT_COMPLETION_SHOW_ALL
+#
+#     When set to "1" suggest all options, including options which are
+#     typically hidden (e.g. '--allow-empty' for 'git commit').
 
 case "$COMP_WORDBREAKS" in
 *:*) : great ;;
@@ -411,10 +416,17 @@ __gitcomp_builtin ()
 	local options
 	eval "options=\${$var-}"
 
+	local completion_helper
+	if [ "$GIT_COMPLETION_SHOW_ALL" = "1" ]; then
+		completion_helper="--git-completion-helper-all"
+	else
+		completion_helper="--git-completion-helper"
+	fi
+
 	if [ -z "$options" ]; then
 		# leading and trailing spaces are significant to make
 		# option removal work correctly.
-		options=" $incl $(__git ${cmd/_/ } --git-completion-helper) " || return
+		options=" $incl $(__git ${cmd/_/ } $completion_helper) " || return
 
 		for i in $excl; do
 			options="${options/ $i / }"
diff --git a/parse-options.c b/parse-options.c
index c57618d53736c754cee32b341f7c97d881c3036c..f0507432ee35ba8646a510d1a28ec3561f6bcb30 100644
--- a/parse-options.c
+++ b/parse-options.c
@@ -525,7 +525,8 @@ void parse_options_start(struct parse_opt_ctx_t *ctx,
 	parse_options_start_1(ctx, argc, argv, prefix, options, flags);
 }
 
-static void show_negated_gitcomp(const struct option *opts, int nr_noopts)
+static void show_negated_gitcomp(const struct option *opts, int show_all,
+				 int nr_noopts)
 {
 	int printed_dashdash = 0;
 
@@ -535,7 +536,8 @@ static void show_negated_gitcomp(const struct option *opts, int nr_noopts)
 
 		if (!opts->long_name)
 			continue;
-		if (opts->flags & (PARSE_OPT_HIDDEN | PARSE_OPT_NOCOMPLETE))
+		if (!show_all &&
+			(opts->flags & (PARSE_OPT_HIDDEN | PARSE_OPT_NOCOMPLETE)))
 			continue;
 		if (opts->flags & PARSE_OPT_NONEG)
 			continue;
@@ -572,7 +574,7 @@ static void show_negated_gitcomp(const struct option *opts, int nr_noopts)
 	}
 }
 
-static int show_gitcomp(const struct option *opts)
+static int show_gitcomp(const struct option *opts, int show_all)
 {
 	const struct option *original_opts = opts;
 	int nr_noopts = 0;
@@ -582,7 +584,8 @@ static int show_gitcomp(const struct option *opts)
 
 		if (!opts->long_name)
 			continue;
-		if (opts->flags & (PARSE_OPT_HIDDEN | PARSE_OPT_NOCOMPLETE))
+		if (!show_all &&
+			(opts->flags & (PARSE_OPT_HIDDEN | PARSE_OPT_NOCOMPLETE)))
 			continue;
 
 		switch (opts->type) {
@@ -610,8 +613,8 @@ static int show_gitcomp(const struct option *opts)
 			nr_noopts++;
 		printf(" --%s%s", opts->long_name, suffix);
 	}
-	show_negated_gitcomp(original_opts, -1);
-	show_negated_gitcomp(original_opts, nr_noopts);
+	show_negated_gitcomp(original_opts, show_all, -1);
+	show_negated_gitcomp(original_opts, show_all, nr_noopts);
 	fputc('\n', stdout);
 	return PARSE_OPT_COMPLETE;
 }
@@ -723,9 +726,14 @@ int parse_options_step(struct parse_opt_ctx_t *ctx,
 		if (internal_help && ctx->total == 1 && !strcmp(arg + 1, "h"))
 			goto show_usage;
 
-		/* lone --git-completion-helper is asked by git-completion.bash */
-		if (ctx->total == 1 && !strcmp(arg + 1, "-git-completion-helper"))
-			return show_gitcomp(options);
+		/*
+		 * lone --git-completion-helper and --git-completion-helper-all
+		 * are asked by git-completion.bash
+		 */
+		if (ctx->total == 1 && !strcmp(arg, "--git-completion-helper"))
+			return show_gitcomp(options, 0);
+		if (ctx->total == 1 && !strcmp(arg, "--git-completion-helper-all"))
+			return show_gitcomp(options, 1);
 
 		if (arg[1] != '-') {
 			ctx->opt = arg + 1;