diff --git a/Documentation/config.txt b/Documentation/config.txt
index 4e222f15a5..3e10feb9fb 100644
--- a/Documentation/config.txt
+++ b/Documentation/config.txt
@@ -766,6 +766,12 @@ pack.indexVersion::
 	whenever the corresponding pack is larger than 2 GB.  Otherwise
 	the default is 1.
 
+pack.packSizeLimit:
+	The default maximum size of a pack.  This setting only affects
+	packing to a file, i.e. the git:// protocol is unaffected.  It
+	can be overridden by the `\--max-pack-size` option of
+	linkgit:git-repack[1].
+
 pull.octopus::
 	The default merge strategy to use when pulling multiple branches
 	at once.
diff --git a/Documentation/git-pack-objects.txt b/Documentation/git-pack-objects.txt
index 74cc7c1cb8..8353be186f 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-pack-objects.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-pack-objects.txt
@@ -99,7 +99,8 @@ base-name::
 --max-pack-size=<n>::
 	Maximum size of each output packfile, expressed in MiB.
 	If specified,  multiple packfiles may be created.
-	The default is unlimited.
+	The default is unlimited, unless the config variable
+	`pack.packSizeLimit` is set.
 
 --incremental::
 	This flag causes an object already in a pack ignored
diff --git a/builtin-pack-objects.c b/builtin-pack-objects.c
index d3efeff03f..692a76126b 100644
--- a/builtin-pack-objects.c
+++ b/builtin-pack-objects.c
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ static int allow_ofs_delta;
 static const char *base_name;
 static int progress = 1;
 static int window = 10;
-static uint32_t pack_size_limit;
+static uint32_t pack_size_limit, pack_size_limit_cfg;
 static int depth = 50;
 static int delta_search_threads = 1;
 static int pack_to_stdout;
@@ -1867,6 +1867,10 @@ static int git_pack_config(const char *k, const char *v)
 			die("bad pack.indexversion=%d", pack_idx_default_version);
 		return 0;
 	}
+	if (!strcmp(k, "pack.packsizelimit")) {
+		pack_size_limit_cfg = git_config_ulong(k, v);
+		return 0;
+	}
 	return git_default_config(k, v);
 }
 
@@ -2096,6 +2100,7 @@ int cmd_pack_objects(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		}
 		if (!prefixcmp(arg, "--max-pack-size=")) {
 			char *end;
+			pack_size_limit_cfg = 0;
 			pack_size_limit = strtoul(arg+16, &end, 0) * 1024 * 1024;
 			if (!arg[16] || *end)
 				usage(pack_usage);
@@ -2220,6 +2225,9 @@ int cmd_pack_objects(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	if (pack_to_stdout != !base_name)
 		usage(pack_usage);
 
+	if (!pack_to_stdout && !pack_size_limit)
+		pack_size_limit = pack_size_limit_cfg;
+
 	if (pack_to_stdout && pack_size_limit)
 		die("--max-pack-size cannot be used to build a pack for transfer.");
 
diff --git a/t/t5300-pack-object.sh b/t/t5300-pack-object.sh
index 4f350dd4ec..cd3c149800 100755
--- a/t/t5300-pack-object.sh
+++ b/t/t5300-pack-object.sh
@@ -268,4 +268,10 @@ test_expect_success \
     'make sure index-pack detects the SHA1 collision' \
     '! git-index-pack -o bad.idx test-3.pack'
 
+test_expect_success \
+    'honor pack.packSizeLimit' \
+    'git config pack.packSizeLimit 200 &&
+     packname_4=$(git pack-objects test-4 <obj-list) &&
+     test 3 = $(ls test-4-*.pack | wc -l)'
+
 test_done