diff --git a/Documentation/config.txt b/Documentation/config.txt
index 6ba50b1104..d08e83a148 100644
--- a/Documentation/config.txt
+++ b/Documentation/config.txt
@@ -398,6 +398,8 @@ include::config/interactive.txt[]
 
 include::config/log.txt[]
 
+include::config/lsrefs.txt[]
+
 include::config/mailinfo.txt[]
 
 include::config/mailmap.txt[]
diff --git a/Documentation/config/lsrefs.txt b/Documentation/config/lsrefs.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..adeda0f24d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/config/lsrefs.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+lsrefs.unborn::
+	May be "advertise" (the default), "allow", or "ignore". If "advertise",
+	the server will respond to the client sending "unborn" (as described in
+	protocol-v2.txt) and will advertise support for this feature during the
+	protocol v2 capability advertisement. "allow" is the same as
+	"advertise" except that the server will not advertise support for this
+	feature; this is useful for load-balanced servers that cannot be
+	updated atomically (for example), since the administrator could
+	configure "allow", then after a delay, configure "advertise".
diff --git a/Documentation/technical/protocol-v2.txt b/Documentation/technical/protocol-v2.txt
index 85daeb5d9e..f772d90eaf 100644
--- a/Documentation/technical/protocol-v2.txt
+++ b/Documentation/technical/protocol-v2.txt
@@ -192,11 +192,20 @@ ls-refs takes in the following arguments:
 	When specified, only references having a prefix matching one of
 	the provided prefixes are displayed.
 
+If the 'unborn' feature is advertised the following argument can be
+included in the client's request.
+
+    unborn
+	The server will send information about HEAD even if it is a symref
+	pointing to an unborn branch in the form "unborn HEAD
+	symref-target:<target>".
+
 The output of ls-refs is as follows:
 
     output = *ref
 	     flush-pkt
-    ref = PKT-LINE(obj-id SP refname *(SP ref-attribute) LF)
+    obj-id-or-unborn = (obj-id | "unborn")
+    ref = PKT-LINE(obj-id-or-unborn SP refname *(SP ref-attribute) LF)
     ref-attribute = (symref | peeled)
     symref = "symref-target:" symref-target
     peeled = "peeled:" obj-id
diff --git a/ls-refs.c b/ls-refs.c
index a1e0b473e4..32deb7be44 100644
--- a/ls-refs.c
+++ b/ls-refs.c
@@ -7,6 +7,39 @@
 #include "pkt-line.h"
 #include "config.h"
 
+static int config_read;
+static int advertise_unborn;
+static int allow_unborn;
+
+static void ensure_config_read(void)
+{
+	const char *str = NULL;
+
+	if (config_read)
+		return;
+
+	if (repo_config_get_string_tmp(the_repository, "lsrefs.unborn", &str)) {
+		/*
+		 * If there is no such config, advertise and allow it by
+		 * default.
+		 */
+		advertise_unborn = 1;
+		allow_unborn = 1;
+	} else {
+		if (!strcmp(str, "advertise")) {
+			advertise_unborn = 1;
+			allow_unborn = 1;
+		} else if (!strcmp(str, "allow")) {
+			allow_unborn = 1;
+		} else if (!strcmp(str, "ignore")) {
+			/* do nothing */
+		} else {
+			die(_("invalid value '%s' for lsrefs.unborn"), str);
+		}
+	}
+	config_read = 1;
+}
+
 /*
  * Check if one of the prefixes is a prefix of the ref.
  * If no prefixes were provided, all refs match.
@@ -32,6 +65,7 @@ struct ls_refs_data {
 	unsigned peel;
 	unsigned symrefs;
 	struct strvec prefixes;
+	unsigned unborn : 1;
 };
 
 static int send_ref(const char *refname, const struct object_id *oid,
@@ -47,7 +81,10 @@ static int send_ref(const char *refname, const struct object_id *oid,
 	if (!ref_match(&data->prefixes, refname_nons))
 		return 0;
 
-	strbuf_addf(&refline, "%s %s", oid_to_hex(oid), refname_nons);
+	if (oid)
+		strbuf_addf(&refline, "%s %s", oid_to_hex(oid), refname_nons);
+	else
+		strbuf_addf(&refline, "unborn %s", refname_nons);
 	if (data->symrefs && flag & REF_ISSYMREF) {
 		struct object_id unused;
 		const char *symref_target = resolve_ref_unsafe(refname, 0,
@@ -61,7 +98,7 @@ static int send_ref(const char *refname, const struct object_id *oid,
 			    strip_namespace(symref_target));
 	}
 
-	if (data->peel) {
+	if (data->peel && oid) {
 		struct object_id peeled;
 		if (!peel_ref(refname, &peeled))
 			strbuf_addf(&refline, " peeled:%s", oid_to_hex(&peeled));
@@ -74,6 +111,23 @@ static int send_ref(const char *refname, const struct object_id *oid,
 	return 0;
 }
 
+static void send_possibly_unborn_head(struct ls_refs_data *data)
+{
+	struct strbuf namespaced = STRBUF_INIT;
+	struct object_id oid;
+	int flag;
+	int oid_is_null;
+
+	strbuf_addf(&namespaced, "%sHEAD", get_git_namespace());
+	if (!resolve_ref_unsafe(namespaced.buf, 0, &oid, &flag))
+		return; /* bad ref */
+	oid_is_null = is_null_oid(&oid);
+	if (!oid_is_null ||
+	    (data->unborn && data->symrefs && (flag & REF_ISSYMREF)))
+		send_ref(namespaced.buf, oid_is_null ? NULL : &oid, flag, data);
+	strbuf_release(&namespaced);
+}
+
 static int ls_refs_config(const char *var, const char *value, void *data)
 {
 	/*
@@ -91,6 +145,7 @@ int ls_refs(struct repository *r, struct strvec *keys,
 
 	memset(&data, 0, sizeof(data));
 
+	ensure_config_read();
 	git_config(ls_refs_config, NULL);
 
 	while (packet_reader_read(request) == PACKET_READ_NORMAL) {
@@ -103,14 +158,27 @@ int ls_refs(struct repository *r, struct strvec *keys,
 			data.symrefs = 1;
 		else if (skip_prefix(arg, "ref-prefix ", &out))
 			strvec_push(&data.prefixes, out);
+		else if (!strcmp("unborn", arg))
+			data.unborn = allow_unborn;
 	}
 
 	if (request->status != PACKET_READ_FLUSH)
 		die(_("expected flush after ls-refs arguments"));
 
-	head_ref_namespaced(send_ref, &data);
+	send_possibly_unborn_head(&data);
 	for_each_namespaced_ref(send_ref, &data);
 	packet_flush(1);
 	strvec_clear(&data.prefixes);
 	return 0;
 }
+
+int ls_refs_advertise(struct repository *r, struct strbuf *value)
+{
+	if (value) {
+		ensure_config_read();
+		if (advertise_unborn)
+			strbuf_addstr(value, "unborn");
+	}
+
+	return 1;
+}
diff --git a/ls-refs.h b/ls-refs.h
index 7b33a7c6b8..a99e4be0bd 100644
--- a/ls-refs.h
+++ b/ls-refs.h
@@ -6,5 +6,6 @@ struct strvec;
 struct packet_reader;
 int ls_refs(struct repository *r, struct strvec *keys,
 	    struct packet_reader *request);
+int ls_refs_advertise(struct repository *r, struct strbuf *value);
 
 #endif /* LS_REFS_H */
diff --git a/serve.c b/serve.c
index eec2fe6f29..ac20c72763 100644
--- a/serve.c
+++ b/serve.c
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ struct protocol_capability {
 
 static struct protocol_capability capabilities[] = {
 	{ "agent", agent_advertise, NULL },
-	{ "ls-refs", always_advertise, ls_refs },
+	{ "ls-refs", ls_refs_advertise, ls_refs },
 	{ "fetch", upload_pack_advertise, upload_pack_v2 },
 	{ "server-option", always_advertise, NULL },
 	{ "object-format", object_format_advertise, NULL },
diff --git a/t/t5701-git-serve.sh b/t/t5701-git-serve.sh
index a1f5fdc9fd..df29504161 100755
--- a/t/t5701-git-serve.sh
+++ b/t/t5701-git-serve.sh
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ test_expect_success 'test capability advertisement' '
 	cat >expect <<-EOF &&
 	version 2
 	agent=git/$(git version | cut -d" " -f3)
-	ls-refs
+	ls-refs=unborn
 	fetch=shallow
 	server-option
 	object-format=$(test_oid algo)