diff --git a/Annex/AdjustedBranch.hs b/Annex/AdjustedBranch.hs
index ecc3fca1ea..bc364b52d5 100644
--- a/Annex/AdjustedBranch.hs
+++ b/Annex/AdjustedBranch.hs
@@ -402,7 +402,7 @@ mergeToAdjustedBranch tomerge (origbranch, adj) mergeconfig canresolvemerge comm
 				-- http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.version-control.git/297237
 				inRepo $ Git.Command.run [Param "reset", Param "HEAD", Param "--quiet"]
 				showAction $ "Merging into " ++ fromRef (Git.Ref.base origbranch)
-				merged <- autoMergeFrom' tomerge Nothing mergeconfig commitmode
+				merged <- autoMergeFrom' tomerge Nothing mergeconfig commitmode True
 					(const $ resolveMerge (Just updatedorig) tomerge True)
 				if merged
 					then do
diff --git a/Annex/AutoMerge.hs b/Annex/AutoMerge.hs
index 65a4989d83..2d7c8e93d1 100644
--- a/Annex/AutoMerge.hs
+++ b/Annex/AutoMerge.hs
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ module Annex.AutoMerge
 	) where
 
 import Annex.Common
+import qualified Annex
 import qualified Annex.Queue
 import Annex.CatFile
 import Annex.Link
@@ -46,22 +47,41 @@ import qualified Data.ByteString.Lazy as L
  -}
 autoMergeFrom :: Git.Ref -> Maybe Git.Ref -> [Git.Merge.MergeConfig] -> Git.Branch.CommitMode -> Bool -> Annex Bool
 autoMergeFrom branch currbranch mergeconfig commitmode canresolvemerge =
-	autoMergeFrom' branch currbranch mergeconfig commitmode resolvemerge
+	autoMergeFrom' branch currbranch mergeconfig commitmode canresolvemerge resolvemerge
   where
 	resolvemerge old
 		| canresolvemerge = resolveMerge old branch False
 		| otherwise = return False 
 
-autoMergeFrom' :: Git.Ref -> Maybe Git.Ref -> [Git.Merge.MergeConfig] -> Git.Branch.CommitMode -> (Maybe Git.Ref -> Annex Bool) -> Annex Bool
-autoMergeFrom' branch currbranch mergeconfig commitmode resolvemerge = do
+autoMergeFrom' :: Git.Ref -> Maybe Git.Ref -> [Git.Merge.MergeConfig] -> Git.Branch.CommitMode -> Bool -> (Maybe Git.Ref -> Annex Bool) -> Annex Bool
+autoMergeFrom' branch currbranch mergeconfig commitmode willresolvemerge toresolvemerge = do
 	showOutput
 	case currbranch of
 		Nothing -> go Nothing
 		Just b -> go =<< inRepo (Git.Ref.sha b)
   where
 	go old = do
-			r <- inRepo (Git.Merge.merge branch mergeconfig commitmode)
-				<||> (resolvemerge old <&&> commitResolvedMerge commitmode)
+			-- merge.directoryRenames=conflict plus automatic
+			-- merge conflict resolution results in files in a
+			-- "renamed" directory getting variant names,
+			-- so is not a great combination. If the user has
+			-- explicitly set it, use it, but otherwise when
+			-- merge conflicts will be resolved, override
+			-- to merge.directoryRenames=false.
+			overridedirectoryrenames <- if willresolvemerge
+				then isNothing . mergeDirectoryRenames
+					<$> Annex.getGitConfig
+				else pure False
+			let f r 
+				| overridedirectoryrenames = r
+					{ Git.gitGlobalOpts = 
+						Param "-c"
+						: Param "merge.directoryRenames=false" 
+						: Git.gitGlobalOpts r
+					}
+				| otherwise = r
+			r <- inRepo (Git.Merge.merge branch mergeconfig commitmode . f)
+				<||> (toresolvemerge old <&&> commitResolvedMerge commitmode)
 			-- Merging can cause new associated files to appear
 			-- and the smudge filter will add them to the database.
 			-- To ensure that this process sees those changes,
diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index ed7d4f8a84..1c493bad4e 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -33,6 +33,10 @@ git-annex (8.20200815) UNRELEASED; urgency=medium
   * import: Retry downloads that fail, same as is done for downloads generally.
   * resolvemerge: Improve cleanup of files that were deleted by one side of
     a conflicted merge, and modified by the other side.
+  * sync, assistant, merge: When merge.directoryRenames is not set,
+    default it it to "false", which works better with automatic merge
+    conflict resolution than git's ususual default of "conflict".
+    (This is not done when automatic merge conflict resolution is disabled.)
 
  -- Joey Hess <id@joeyh.name>  Fri, 14 Aug 2020 14:57:45 -0400
 
diff --git a/Types/GitConfig.hs b/Types/GitConfig.hs
index 1b441297fd..ab586b063a 100644
--- a/Types/GitConfig.hs
+++ b/Types/GitConfig.hs
@@ -130,6 +130,7 @@ data GitConfig = GitConfig
 	, receiveDenyCurrentBranch :: DenyCurrentBranch
 	, gcryptId :: Maybe String
 	, gpgCmd :: GpgCmd
+	, mergeDirectoryRenames :: Maybe String
 	}
 
 extractGitConfig :: ConfigSource -> Git.Repo -> GitConfig
@@ -223,6 +224,7 @@ extractGitConfig configsource r = GitConfig
 	, receiveDenyCurrentBranch = getDenyCurrentBranch r
 	, gcryptId = getmaybe "core.gcrypt-id"
 	, gpgCmd = mkGpgCmd (getmaybe "gpg.program")
+	, mergeDirectoryRenames = getmaybe "directoryrenames"
 	}
   where
 	getbool k d = fromMaybe d $ getmaybebool k
diff --git a/doc/bugs/new_merge.directoryRenames_behavior_breaks_sync_merge_conflict_resolution.mdwn b/doc/bugs/new_merge.directoryRenames_behavior_breaks_sync_merge_conflict_resolution.mdwn
index 0adbf07481..afc2eae8f3 100644
--- a/doc/bugs/new_merge.directoryRenames_behavior_breaks_sync_merge_conflict_resolution.mdwn
+++ b/doc/bugs/new_merge.directoryRenames_behavior_breaks_sync_merge_conflict_resolution.mdwn
@@ -46,3 +46,5 @@ to detect it and handle it specially.
 > git-annex sync should set merge.directoryRenames=false when
 > merge.directoryRenames is not configured, unless automatic merge conflict
 > resolution is disabled. --[[Joey]]
+>
+> > [[done]] --[[Joey]]