diff --git a/Documentation/git-status.txt b/Documentation/git-status.txt
index 9f3a78a36c..4acf690a8b 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-status.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-status.txt
@@ -111,6 +111,13 @@ configuration variable documented in linkgit:git-config[1].
 	without options are equivalent to 'always' and 'never'
 	respectively.
 
+--no-lock-index::
+--lock-index::
+	(DEPRECATED: use --no-optional-locks instead)
+	Specifies whether `git status` should try to lock the index and
+	update it afterwards if any changes were detected. Defaults to
+	`--lock-index`.
+
 <pathspec>...::
 	See the 'pathspec' entry in linkgit:gitglossary[7].
 
diff --git a/builtin/commit.c b/builtin/commit.c
index d75b3805ea..8b26f9fc39 100644
--- a/builtin/commit.c
+++ b/builtin/commit.c
@@ -1340,6 +1340,7 @@ static int git_status_config(const char *k, const char *v, void *cb)
 
 int cmd_status(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 {
+	static int no_lock_index = 0;
 	static struct wt_status s;
 	int fd;
 	struct object_id oid;
@@ -1369,12 +1370,20 @@ int cmd_status(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		  N_("ignore changes to submodules, optional when: all, dirty, untracked. (Default: all)"),
 		  PARSE_OPT_OPTARG, NULL, (intptr_t)"all" },
 		OPT_COLUMN(0, "column", &s.colopts, N_("list untracked files in columns")),
+		OPT_BOOL(0, "no-lock-index", &no_lock_index,
+			 N_("do not lock the index")),
 		OPT_END(),
 	};
 
 	if (argc == 2 && !strcmp(argv[1], "-h"))
 		usage_with_options(builtin_status_usage, builtin_status_options);
 
+	if (no_lock_index) {
+		warning("--no-lock-index is deprecated, use --no-optional-locks"
+			" instead");
+		setenv(GIT_OPTIONAL_LOCKS_ENVIRONMENT, "false", 1);
+	}
+
 	status_init_config(&s, git_status_config);
 	argc = parse_options(argc, argv, prefix,
 			     builtin_status_options,