diff --git a/Documentation/config/pack.txt b/Documentation/config/pack.txt
index 7db7fed466..d4c7c9d4e4 100644
--- a/Documentation/config/pack.txt
+++ b/Documentation/config/pack.txt
@@ -182,4 +182,4 @@ pack.writeReverseIndex::
 	linkgit:gitformat-pack[5])
 	for each new packfile that it writes in all places except for
 	linkgit:git-fast-import[1] and in the bulk checkin mechanism.
-	Defaults to false.
+	Defaults to true.
diff --git a/builtin/index-pack.c b/builtin/index-pack.c
index b17e79cd40..323c063f9d 100644
--- a/builtin/index-pack.c
+++ b/builtin/index-pack.c
@@ -1753,6 +1753,7 @@ int cmd_index_pack(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	fsck_options.walk = mark_link;
 
 	reset_pack_idx_option(&opts);
+	opts.flags |= WRITE_REV;
 	git_config(git_index_pack_config, &opts);
 	if (prefix && chdir(prefix))
 		die(_("Cannot come back to cwd"));
diff --git a/builtin/pack-objects.c b/builtin/pack-objects.c
index 77d88f85b0..dbaa04482f 100644
--- a/builtin/pack-objects.c
+++ b/builtin/pack-objects.c
@@ -4293,6 +4293,7 @@ int cmd_pack_objects(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	}
 
 	reset_pack_idx_option(&pack_idx_opts);
+	pack_idx_opts.flags |= WRITE_REV;
 	git_config(git_pack_config, NULL);
 	if (git_env_bool(GIT_TEST_WRITE_REV_INDEX, 0))
 		pack_idx_opts.flags |= WRITE_REV;
diff --git a/t/perf/p5312-pack-bitmaps-revs.sh b/t/perf/p5312-pack-bitmaps-revs.sh
index 0684b690af..ceec60656b 100755
--- a/t/perf/p5312-pack-bitmaps-revs.sh
+++ b/t/perf/p5312-pack-bitmaps-revs.sh
@@ -12,8 +12,7 @@ test_lookup_pack_bitmap () {
 	test_perf_large_repo
 
 	test_expect_success 'setup bitmap config' '
-		git config pack.writebitmaps true &&
-		git config pack.writeReverseIndex true
+		git config pack.writebitmaps true
 	'
 
 	# we need to create the tag up front such that it is covered by the repack and
diff --git a/t/t5325-reverse-index.sh b/t/t5325-reverse-index.sh
index 66171c1d67..149dcf5193 100755
--- a/t/t5325-reverse-index.sh
+++ b/t/t5325-reverse-index.sh
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ packdir=.git/objects/pack
 test_expect_success 'setup' '
 	test_commit base &&
 
+	test_config pack.writeReverseIndex false &&
 	pack=$(git pack-objects --all $packdir/pack) &&
 	rev=$packdir/pack-$pack.rev &&