diff --git a/Annex/Init.hs b/Annex/Init.hs
index 2eb76c2bca..ca57337a7b 100644
--- a/Annex/Init.hs
+++ b/Annex/Init.hs
@@ -141,12 +141,7 @@ uninitialize = do
  - Checks repository version and handles upgrades too.
  -}
 ensureInitialized :: Annex ()
-ensureInitialized = ifM isDirect
-	( unlessM (catchBoolIO $ upgrade True defaultVersion) $ do
-		g <- Annex.gitRepo
-		giveup $ "Upgrading direct mode repository " ++ Git.repoDescribe g ++ " failed, and direct mode is no longer supported."
-	, getVersion >>= maybe needsinit checkUpgrade
-	)
+ensureInitialized = getVersion >>= maybe needsinit checkUpgrade
   where
 	needsinit = ifM Annex.Branch.hasSibling
 		( initialize Nothing Nothing
diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index d77fe1f7bb..e039b2c47b 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ git-annex (7.20190826) UNRELEASED; urgency=medium
   * Automatically upgrade v5 repositories to v7.
   * Automatically convert direct mode repositories to v7 with adjusted
     unlocked branches and set annex.thin.
+  * Added annex.autoupgraderepository configuration that can be set to false
+    to prevent any automatic repository upgrades.
   * Refuse to upgrade direct mode repositories when git is older than 2.22,
     which fixed a memory leak that could cause an OOM during the upgrade.
   * assistant: When creating a new repository, no longer use direct
diff --git a/Command/Upgrade.hs b/Command/Upgrade.hs
index 00e972ae5d..ead0c4b867 100644
--- a/Command/Upgrade.hs
+++ b/Command/Upgrade.hs
@@ -13,9 +13,13 @@ import Annex.Version
 import Annex.Init
 
 cmd :: Command
-cmd = dontCheck repoExists $ -- because an old version may not seem to exist
-	noDaemonRunning $ -- avoid upgrading repo out from under daemon
-	command "upgrade" SectionMaintenance "upgrade repository layout"
+cmd = dontCheck repoExists $
+	-- ^ because an old version may not seem to exist
+	-- and also, this avoids automatic silent upgrades before
+	-- this command can start up.
+	noDaemonRunning $
+	-- ^ avoid upgrading repo out from under daemon
+	command "upgrade" SectionMaintenance "upgrade repository"
 		paramNothing (withParams seek)
 
 seek :: CmdParams -> CommandSeek
diff --git a/Types/GitConfig.hs b/Types/GitConfig.hs
index 7976f08e9f..9e37bc1f3a 100644
--- a/Types/GitConfig.hs
+++ b/Types/GitConfig.hs
@@ -103,6 +103,7 @@ data GitConfig = GitConfig
 	, annexMaxExtensionLength :: Maybe Int
 	, annexJobs :: Concurrency
 	, annexCacheCreds :: Bool
+	, annexAutoUpgradeRepository :: Bool
 	, coreSymlinks :: Bool
 	, coreSharedRepository :: SharedRepository
 	, receiveDenyCurrentBranch :: DenyCurrentBranch
@@ -182,6 +183,7 @@ extractGitConfig r = GitConfig
 	, annexJobs = fromMaybe NonConcurrent $ 
 		parseConcurrency =<< getmaybe (annex "jobs")
 	, annexCacheCreds = getbool (annex "cachecreds") True
+	, annexAutoUpgradeRepository = getbool (annex "autoupgraderepository") True
 	, coreSymlinks = getbool "core.symlinks" True
 	, coreSharedRepository = getSharedRepository r
 	, receiveDenyCurrentBranch = getDenyCurrentBranch r
diff --git a/Upgrade.hs b/Upgrade.hs
index 353572574a..981710de47 100644
--- a/Upgrade.hs
+++ b/Upgrade.hs
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {- git-annex upgrade support
  -
- - Copyright 2010, 2013 Joey Hess <id@joeyh.name>
+ - Copyright 2010-2019 Joey Hess <id@joeyh.name>
  -
  - Licensed under the GNU AGPL version 3 or higher.
  -}
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@
 module Upgrade where
 
 import Annex.Common
+import qualified Annex
+import qualified Git
 import Annex.Version
 import Types.RepoVersion
 #ifndef mingw32_HOST_OS
@@ -36,14 +38,23 @@ needsUpgrade v
 				err "Upgrade this repository: git-annex upgrade"
 			| otherwise ->
 				err "Upgrade git-annex."
-		Just newv -> ifM (upgrade True newv)
-			( ok
-			, err "Automatic upgrade failed!"
+		Just newv -> ifM (annexAutoUpgradeRepository <$> Annex.getGitConfig)
+			( tryNonAsync (upgrade True newv) >>= \case
+				Right True -> ok
+				Right False -> "Automatic upgrade failed!"
+				Left err -> "Automatic upgrade exception! " ++ show err
+			, err "Automatic upgrade is disabled by annex.autoupgraderepository configuration. To upgrade this repository: git-annex upgrade"
 			)
   where
-	err msg = return $ Just $ "Repository version " ++
-		show (fromRepoVersion v) ++
-		" is not supported. " ++ msg
+	err msg = do
+		g <- Annex.gitRepo
+		p <- liftIO $ absPath $ Git.repoPath g
+		return $ Just $ unwords
+			[ "Repository", p
+			, "is at unsupported version"
+			, show (fromRepoVersion v) ++ "."
+			, msg
+			]
 	ok = return Nothing
 
 upgrade :: Bool -> RepoVersion -> Annex Bool
@@ -74,3 +85,4 @@ upgrade automatic destversion = do
 	up (RepoVersion 5) = Upgrade.V5.upgrade automatic
 	up (RepoVersion 6) = Upgrade.V6.upgrade automatic
 	up _ = return True
+
diff --git a/doc/git-annex-upgrade.mdwn b/doc/git-annex-upgrade.mdwn
index 07b319cc11..c27fedd642 100644
--- a/doc/git-annex-upgrade.mdwn
+++ b/doc/git-annex-upgrade.mdwn
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # NAME
 
-git-annex upgrade - upgrade repository layout
+git-annex upgrade - upgrade repository
 
 # SYNOPSIS
 
@@ -8,13 +8,16 @@ git annex upgrade
 
 # DESCRIPTION
 
-Upgrades the repository to current layout.
+Upgrades the repository.
 
 Each git-annex repository has an annex.version in its git configuration,
-that indicates the repository version. If git-annex changes to a new
-layout, you must upgrade the repository before git-annex can be used in it.
+that indicates the repository version. When an old repository version
+becomes deprecated, git-annex will automatically upgrade it
+(unless annex.autoupgraderepository is set to false). To manually upgrade,
+you can use this command.
 
-To see version information, run `git annex version`. 
+Sometimes there's a newer repository version that is not the default yet,
+and then you can use this command to upgrade to it.
 
 Currently, git-annex supports upgrades all the way back to version 0, which
 was only used by its author. It's expected that git-annex will always
diff --git a/doc/git-annex.mdwn b/doc/git-annex.mdwn
index 33c6ee26b9..121e0d9477 100644
--- a/doc/git-annex.mdwn
+++ b/doc/git-annex.mdwn
@@ -383,7 +383,7 @@ subdirectories).
 
 * `upgrade`
 
-  Upgrades the repository to current layout.
+  Upgrades the repository.
   
   See [[git-annex-upgrade]](1) for details.
 
@@ -1066,7 +1066,19 @@ Like other git commands, git-annex is configured via `.git/config`.
 
 * `annex.version`
 
-  Automatically maintained, and used to automate upgrades between versions.
+  The current version of the git-annex repository. This is
+  maintained by git-annex and should never be manually changed.
+
+* `annex.autoupgraderepository`
+
+  When an old git-annex repository version has become deprecated,
+  git-annex will normally automatically upgrade the repository to
+  the new version.
+
+  If this is set to false, git-annex won't automatically upgrade the
+  repository. Instead it will exit with an error message. You can run
+  `git annex upgrade` yourself when you are ready to upgrade the
+  repository.
 
 * `annex.crippledfilesystem`