diff --git a/Documentation/config.txt b/Documentation/config.txt
index b87f744643..d7ec507003 100644
--- a/Documentation/config.txt
+++ b/Documentation/config.txt
@@ -235,6 +235,12 @@ core.trustctime::
 	crawlers and some backup systems).
 	See linkgit:git-update-index[1]. True by default.
 
+core.checkstat::
+	Determines which stat fields to match between the index
+	and work tree. The user can set this to 'default' or
+	'minimal'. Default (or explicitly 'default'), is to check
+	all fields, including the sub-second part of mtime and ctime.
+
 core.quotepath::
 	The commands that output paths (e.g. 'ls-files',
 	'diff'), when not given the `-z` option, will quote
diff --git a/cache.h b/cache.h
index c257953fa7..ab20c4ddf3 100644
--- a/cache.h
+++ b/cache.h
@@ -536,6 +536,7 @@ extern int delete_ref(const char *, const unsigned char *sha1, int delopt);
 /* Environment bits from configuration mechanism */
 extern int trust_executable_bit;
 extern int trust_ctime;
+extern int check_stat;
 extern int quote_path_fully;
 extern int has_symlinks;
 extern int minimum_abbrev, default_abbrev;
diff --git a/config.c b/config.c
index 7b444b68ab..3f638e3c00 100644
--- a/config.c
+++ b/config.c
@@ -566,6 +566,12 @@ static int git_default_core_config(const char *var, const char *value)
 		trust_ctime = git_config_bool(var, value);
 		return 0;
 	}
+	if (!strcmp(var, "core.statinfo")) {
+		if (!strcasecmp(value, "default"))
+			check_stat = 1;
+		else if (!strcasecmp(value, "minimal"))
+			check_stat = 0;
+	}
 
 	if (!strcmp(var, "core.quotepath")) {
 		quote_path_fully = git_config_bool(var, value);
diff --git a/environment.c b/environment.c
index 85edd7f95a..e828b371f5 100644
--- a/environment.c
+++ b/environment.c
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 
 int trust_executable_bit = 1;
 int trust_ctime = 1;
+int check_stat = 1;
 int has_symlinks = 1;
 int minimum_abbrev = 4, default_abbrev = 7;
 int ignore_case;
diff --git a/read-cache.c b/read-cache.c
index fda78bc353..827ae55c50 100644
--- a/read-cache.c
+++ b/read-cache.c
@@ -197,21 +197,25 @@ static int ce_match_stat_basic(struct cache_entry *ce, struct stat *st)
 	}
 	if (ce->ce_mtime.sec != (unsigned int)st->st_mtime)
 		changed |= MTIME_CHANGED;
-	if (trust_ctime && ce->ce_ctime.sec != (unsigned int)st->st_ctime)
+	if (trust_ctime && check_stat &&
+	    ce->ce_ctime.sec != (unsigned int)st->st_ctime)
 		changed |= CTIME_CHANGED;
 
 #ifdef USE_NSEC
-	if (ce->ce_mtime.nsec != ST_MTIME_NSEC(*st))
+	if (check_stat && ce->ce_mtime.nsec != ST_MTIME_NSEC(*st))
 		changed |= MTIME_CHANGED;
-	if (trust_ctime && ce->ce_ctime.nsec != ST_CTIME_NSEC(*st))
+	if (trust_ctime && check_stat &&
+	    ce->ce_ctime.nsec != ST_CTIME_NSEC(*st))
 		changed |= CTIME_CHANGED;
 #endif
 
-	if (ce->ce_uid != (unsigned int) st->st_uid ||
-	    ce->ce_gid != (unsigned int) st->st_gid)
-		changed |= OWNER_CHANGED;
-	if (ce->ce_ino != (unsigned int) st->st_ino)
-		changed |= INODE_CHANGED;
+	if (check_stat) {
+		if (ce->ce_uid != (unsigned int) st->st_uid ||
+			ce->ce_gid != (unsigned int) st->st_gid)
+			changed |= OWNER_CHANGED;
+		if (ce->ce_ino != (unsigned int) st->st_ino)
+			changed |= INODE_CHANGED;
+	}
 
 #ifdef USE_STDEV
 	/*
@@ -219,8 +223,8 @@ static int ce_match_stat_basic(struct cache_entry *ce, struct stat *st)
 	 * clients will have different views of what "device"
 	 * the filesystem is on
 	 */
-	if (ce->ce_dev != (unsigned int) st->st_dev)
-		changed |= INODE_CHANGED;
+	if (check_stat && ce->ce_dev != (unsigned int) st->st_dev)
+			changed |= INODE_CHANGED;
 #endif
 
 	if (ce->ce_size != (unsigned int) st->st_size)