diff --git a/Documentation/config.txt b/Documentation/config.txt
index a3587f8397..8abb0820ff 100644
--- a/Documentation/config.txt
+++ b/Documentation/config.txt
@@ -79,8 +79,11 @@ core.logAllRefUpdates::
 	file is automatically created for branch heads.
 
 	This information can be used to determine what commit
-	was the tip of a branch "2 days ago".  This value is
-	false by default (no automated creation of log files).
+	was the tip of a branch "2 days ago".
+
+	This value is true by default in a repository that has
+	a working directory associated with it, and false by
+	default in a bare repository.
 
 core.repositoryFormatVersion::
 	Internal variable identifying the repository format and layout
diff --git a/builtin-init-db.c b/builtin-init-db.c
index 8f2b7500dc..1d7d15e8d5 100644
--- a/builtin-init-db.c
+++ b/builtin-init-db.c
@@ -242,6 +242,9 @@ static int create_default_files(const char *git_dir, const char *template_path)
 			       filemode ? "true" : "false");
 	}
 
+	/* Enable logAllRefUpdates if a working tree is attached */
+	if (!is_bare_git_dir(git_dir))
+		git_config_set("core.logallrefupdates", "true");
 	return reinit;
 }
 
diff --git a/cache.h b/cache.h
index f2ec5c8c14..2d3df98dc4 100644
--- a/cache.h
+++ b/cache.h
@@ -123,6 +123,7 @@ extern int cache_errno;
 #define INDEX_ENVIRONMENT "GIT_INDEX_FILE"
 #define GRAFT_ENVIRONMENT "GIT_GRAFT_FILE"
 
+extern int is_bare_git_dir(const char *dir);
 extern const char *get_git_dir(void);
 extern char *get_object_directory(void);
 extern char *get_refs_directory(void);
diff --git a/environment.c b/environment.c
index 84d870ca4e..f8c7dbcead 100644
--- a/environment.c
+++ b/environment.c
@@ -48,6 +48,16 @@ static void setup_git_env(void)
 	git_graft_file = getenv(GRAFT_ENVIRONMENT);
 	if (!git_graft_file)
 		git_graft_file = xstrdup(git_path("info/grafts"));
+	log_all_ref_updates = !is_bare_git_dir(git_dir);
+}
+
+int is_bare_git_dir (const char *dir)
+{
+	const char *s;
+	if (!strcmp(dir, DEFAULT_GIT_DIR_ENVIRONMENT))
+		return 0;
+	s = strrchr(dir, '/');
+	return !s || strcmp(s + 1, DEFAULT_GIT_DIR_ENVIRONMENT);
 }
 
 const char *get_git_dir(void)
diff --git a/t/t1400-update-ref.sh b/t/t1400-update-ref.sh
index 6a917f2ff4..5637cb5eac 100755
--- a/t/t1400-update-ref.sh
+++ b/t/t1400-update-ref.sh
@@ -63,8 +63,8 @@ test_expect_failure \
 	"test $B"' = $(cat .git/'"$m"')'
 rm -f .git/$m
 
-mkdir -p .git/logs/refs/heads
-touch .git/logs/refs/heads/master
+: a repository with working tree always has reflog these days...
+: >.git/logs/refs/heads/master
 test_expect_success \
 	"create $m (logged by touch)" \
 	'GIT_COMMITTER_DATE="2005-05-26 23:30" \