diff --git a/Documentation/git-send-email.txt b/Documentation/git-send-email.txt
index ec0e20182b..4c8d907bd5 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-send-email.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-send-email.txt
@@ -68,9 +68,11 @@ The options available are:
 --smtp-server::
 	If set, specifies the outgoing SMTP server to use.  A full
 	pathname of a sendmail-like program can be specified instead;
-	the program must support the `-i` option.  Defaults to
-	`/usr/sbin/sendmail` or `/usr/lib/sendmail` if such program is
-	available, or to `localhost` otherwise.
+	the program must support the `-i` option.  Default value can
+	be specified by the 'sendemail.smtpserver' configuration
+	option; the built-in default is `/usr/sbin/sendmail` or
+	`/usr/lib/sendmail` if such program is available, or
+	`localhost` otherwise.
 
 --subject::
    	Specify the initial subject of the email thread.
diff --git a/git-send-email.perl b/git-send-email.perl
index c42dc3bc94..4c87c20c15 100755
--- a/git-send-email.perl
+++ b/git-send-email.perl
@@ -230,6 +230,9 @@ if (!defined $initial_reply_to && $prompting) {
 	$initial_reply_to =~ s/(^\s+|\s+$)//g;
 }
 
+if (!$smtp_server) {
+	$smtp_server = $repo->config('sendemail.smtpserver');
+}
 if (!$smtp_server) {
 	foreach (qw( /usr/sbin/sendmail /usr/lib/sendmail )) {
 		if (-x $_) {