diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index 096deedc4d..74f187667b 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -7,6 +7,9 @@ git-annex (7.20190123) UNRELEASED; urgency=medium
     with versioning=yes. Needs not yet released version 0.22 of aws library;
     with older versions asks the user to configure the bucket versioning
     themselves.
+  * enableremote S3: Do not let versioning=yes be set on existing remote,
+    because when git-annex lacks S3 version IDs for files stored in
+    the bucket, deleting them would cause data loss.
 
  -- Joey Hess <id@joeyh.name>  Wed, 23 Jan 2019 12:54:56 -0400
 
diff --git a/Remote/S3.hs b/Remote/S3.hs
index 60ab2db486..d97d37876b 100644
--- a/Remote/S3.hs
+++ b/Remote/S3.hs
@@ -148,12 +148,7 @@ s3Setup' ss u mcreds c gc
 		]
 		
 	use fullconfig = do
-		case ss of
-			Init -> do
-				info <- extractS3Info fullconfig
-				when (versioning info) $
-					enableBucketVersioning (bucket info) fullconfig gc u
-			_ -> return ()
+		enableBucketVersioning ss fullconfig gc u
 		gitConfigSpecialRemote u fullconfig [("s3", "true")]
 		return (fullconfig, u)
 
@@ -864,27 +859,31 @@ getS3VersionIDPublicUrls :: (S3Info -> BucketObject -> URLString) -> S3Info -> U
 getS3VersionIDPublicUrls mk info u k =
 	map (s3VersionIDPublicUrl mk info) <$> getS3VersionID u k
 
--- Enable versioning on the bucket.
---
--- This must only be done at init time; setting versioning in a bucket
--- that git-annex has already exported files to risks losing the content of
--- those un-versioned files.
-enableBucketVersioning :: S3.Bucket -> RemoteConfig -> RemoteGitConfig -> UUID -> Annex ()
-enableBucketVersioning b c gc u = do
+-- Enable versioning on the bucket can only be done at init time;
+-- setting versioning in a bucket that git-annex has already exported
+-- files to risks losing the content of those un-versioned files.
+enableBucketVersioning :: SetupStage -> RemoteConfig -> RemoteGitConfig -> UUID -> Annex ()
+enableBucketVersioning ss c gc u = do
+	info <- extractS3Info c
+	case ss of
+		Init -> when (versioning info) $
+			enableversioning (bucket info)
+		Enable oldc -> do
+			oldinfo <- extractS3Info oldc
+			when (versioning info /= versioning oldinfo) $
+				giveup "Cannot change versioning= of existing S3 remote."
+  where
+	enableversioning b = do
 #if MIN_VERSION_aws(0,22,0)
-	showAction "enabling bucket versioning"
-	withS3Handle c gc u $ \h ->
-		void $ sendS3Handle h $ S3.putBucketVersioning b S3.VersioningEnabled
+		showAction "enabling bucket versioning"
+		withS3Handle c gc u $ \h ->
+			void $ sendS3Handle h $ S3.putBucketVersioning b S3.VersioningEnabled
 #else
-	let ConfigKey c = remoteConfig c "s3-versioning-enabled"
-	showLongNote $ unlines
-		[ "This version of git-annex cannot auto-enable S3 bucket versioning."
-		, "You need to manually enable versioning in the S3 console"
-		, "for the bucket \"" ++ T.unpack b ++ "\""
-		, "https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/user-guide/enable-versioning.html"
-		, "It's important you do this before storing anything in the bucket!"
-		]
+		showLongNote $ unlines
+			[ "This version of git-annex cannot auto-enable S3 bucket versioning."
+			, "You need to manually enable versioning in the S3 console"
+			, "for the bucket \"" ++ T.unpack b ++ "\""
+			, "https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/user-guide/enable-versioning.html"
+			, "It's important you enable versioning before storing anything in the bucket!"
+			]
 #endif
-
--- 
--- verifyBucketVersioningEnabled :: Annex Bool
diff --git a/doc/bugs/potential_data_loss_after_late_enabling_of_S3_versioning.mdwn b/doc/bugs/potential_data_loss_after_late_enabling_of_S3_versioning.mdwn
index 670da89a63..b924ec3930 100644
--- a/doc/bugs/potential_data_loss_after_late_enabling_of_S3_versioning.mdwn
+++ b/doc/bugs/potential_data_loss_after_late_enabling_of_S3_versioning.mdwn
@@ -35,26 +35,17 @@ only place a file was stored, they would lose data without git-annex being
 run at all, so it's equivilant to them deleting the bucket, so this seems
 not something it needs to worry about).
 
-There is [an yet-unmerged pull
-request](https://github.com/aristidb/aws/pull/255) to let buckets be
-created with versioning enabled, that is kind of a prerequisite for this
-change, otherwise the user would need to manually make the bucket and
-enable versioning before initremote.
-
-So, plan:
+Plan:
 
 * Wait for the PutBucketVersioning pull request to be merged.
-* Add a remote.name.s3-versioning-enabled which needs to be true
-  in order for exporttree to remove files from a versioned remote.
-* Enable versioning and set remote.name.s3-versioning-enabled during initremote,
-  when versioning=yes. If aws library is too old to enable versioning,
-  initremote should fail.
-* Do no allow changing versioning= during enableremote.
-* Any repos that used versioning=yes before this point will see removal
-  of files from them fail. The user can either manually set
-  remote.name.s3-versioning-enabled (if they are sure they enabled it from
-  the beginning), or can disable versioning. (Or perhaps other resolutions
-  to the problem, up to the user.)
+  (Done, not in a release yet, but will probably be aws-0.22)
+* Auto-enable versioning during initremote (and not enableremote)
+  when versioning=yes. (Or prompt user to do it when aws is too old.)
+  (Done)
+* Do not allow changing versioning= during enableremote.
+* Any repos that previously enabled versioning after storing some
+  unversioned files still are at risk of data loss. Detect this
+  case and treat them as versioning=no. How?
 
 # change exporttree