diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/ConfigConstants.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/ConfigConstants.java
index 8fd84c893..88d274147 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/ConfigConstants.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/ConfigConstants.java
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 /*
  * Copyright (C) 2010, Mathias Kinzler <mathias.kinzler@sap.com>
  * Copyright (C) 2010, Chris Aniszczyk <caniszczyk@gmail.com>
+ * Copyright (C) 2012-2013, Robin Rosenberg
  * and other copyright owners as documented in the project's IP log.
  *
  * This program and the accompanying materials are made available
@@ -194,4 +195,7 @@ public class ConfigConstants {
 
 	/** The "ff" key */
 	public static final String CONFIG_KEY_FF = "ff";
+
+	/** The "checkstat" key */
+	public static final String CONFIG_KEY_CHECKSTAT = "checkstat";
 }
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/CoreConfig.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/CoreConfig.java
index 23aca3794..982cbc84e 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/CoreConfig.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/lib/CoreConfig.java
@@ -74,6 +74,25 @@ public static enum AutoCRLF {
 		INPUT;
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Permissible values for {@code core.checkstat}
+	 *
+	 * @since 2.3
+	 */
+	public static enum CheckStat {
+		/**
+		 * Only check the size and whole second part of time stamp when
+		 * comparing the stat info in the dircache with actual file stat info.
+		 */
+		MINIMAL,
+
+		/**
+		 * Check as much of the dircache stat info as possible. Implementation
+		 * limits may apply.
+		 */
+		DEFAULT
+	}
+
 	private final int compression;
 
 	private final int packIndexVersion;
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/treewalk/WorkingTreeIterator.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/treewalk/WorkingTreeIterator.java
index 1858626cd..9a7db888c 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/treewalk/WorkingTreeIterator.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/treewalk/WorkingTreeIterator.java
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
  * Copyright (C) 2008, Shawn O. Pearce <spearce@spearce.org>
  * Copyright (C) 2010, Christian Halstrick <christian.halstrick@sap.com>
  * Copyright (C) 2010, Matthias Sohn <matthias.sohn@sap.com>
+ * Copyright (C) 2012-2013, Robin Rosenberg
  * and other copyright owners as documented in the project's IP log.
  *
  * This program and the accompanying materials are made available
@@ -75,6 +76,7 @@
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.FileMode;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.ObjectId;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Repository;
+import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.CoreConfig.CheckStat;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.submodule.SubmoduleWalk;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.util.FS;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.util.IO;
@@ -754,15 +756,23 @@ public MetadataDiff compareMetadata(DirCacheEntry entry) {
 
 		// Git under windows only stores seconds so we round the timestamp
 		// Java gives us if it looks like the timestamp in index is seconds
-		// only. Otherwise we compare the timestamp at millisecond precision.
+		// only. Otherwise we compare the timestamp at millisecond precision,
+		// unless core.checkstat is set to "minimal", in which case we only
+		// compare the whole second part.
 		long cacheLastModified = entry.getLastModified();
 		long fileLastModified = getEntryLastModified();
-		if (cacheLastModified % 1000 == 0)
-			fileLastModified = fileLastModified - fileLastModified % 1000;
+		long lastModifiedMillis = fileLastModified % 1000;
+		long cacheMillis = cacheLastModified % 1000;
+		if (getOptions().getCheckStat() == CheckStat.MINIMAL) {
+			fileLastModified = fileLastModified - lastModifiedMillis;
+			cacheLastModified = cacheLastModified - cacheMillis;
+		} else if (cacheMillis == 0)
+			fileLastModified = fileLastModified - lastModifiedMillis;
 		// Some Java version on Linux return whole seconds only even when
 		// the file systems supports more precision.
-		else if (fileLastModified % 1000 == 0)
-			cacheLastModified = cacheLastModified - cacheLastModified % 1000;
+		else if (lastModifiedMillis == 0)
+			cacheLastModified = cacheLastModified - cacheMillis;
+
 		if (fileLastModified != cacheLastModified)
 			return MetadataDiff.DIFFER_BY_TIMESTAMP;
 		else if (!entry.isSmudged())
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/treewalk/WorkingTreeOptions.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/treewalk/WorkingTreeOptions.java
index dafb3a151..93590fd22 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/treewalk/WorkingTreeOptions.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/treewalk/WorkingTreeOptions.java
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 /*
  * Copyright (C) 2010, Marc Strapetz <marc.strapetz@syntevo.com>
+ * Copyright (C) 2012-2013, Robin Rosenberg
  * and other copyright owners as documented in the project's IP log.
  *
  * This program and the accompanying materials are made available
@@ -46,6 +47,7 @@
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.ConfigConstants;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Config.SectionParser;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.CoreConfig.AutoCRLF;
+import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.CoreConfig.CheckStat;
 
 /** Options used by the {@link WorkingTreeIterator}. */
 public class WorkingTreeOptions {
@@ -60,11 +62,15 @@ public WorkingTreeOptions parse(final Config cfg) {
 
 	private final AutoCRLF autoCRLF;
 
+	private final CheckStat checkStat;
+
 	private WorkingTreeOptions(final Config rc) {
 		fileMode = rc.getBoolean(ConfigConstants.CONFIG_CORE_SECTION,
 				ConfigConstants.CONFIG_KEY_FILEMODE, true);
 		autoCRLF = rc.getEnum(ConfigConstants.CONFIG_CORE_SECTION, null,
 				ConfigConstants.CONFIG_KEY_AUTOCRLF, AutoCRLF.FALSE);
+		checkStat = rc.getEnum(ConfigConstants.CONFIG_CORE_SECTION, null,
+				ConfigConstants.CONFIG_KEY_CHECKSTAT, CheckStat.DEFAULT);
 	}
 
 	/** @return true if the execute bit on working files should be trusted. */
@@ -76,4 +82,12 @@ public boolean isFileMode() {
 	public AutoCRLF getAutoCRLF() {
 		return autoCRLF;
 	}
+
+	/**
+	 * @return how stat data is compared
+	 * @since 2.3
+	 */
+	public CheckStat getCheckStat() {
+		return checkStat;
+	}
 }