diff --git a/Documentation/git-fsck.adoc b/Documentation/git-fsck.adoc
index 1751f692d42b8c4864aa9f40b32dd6bbf8395697..f89b9677fe5900166ebc1a9a067996471cb45816 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-fsck.adoc
+++ b/Documentation/git-fsck.adoc
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ SYNOPSIS
 --------
 [verse]
 'git fsck' [--tags] [--root] [--unreachable] [--cache] [--no-reflogs]
-	 [--[no-]full] [--strict] [--verbose] [--lost-found]
+	 [--[no-]full] [--strict|--minimal] [--verbose] [--lost-found]
 	 [--[no-]dangling] [--[no-]progress] [--connectivity-only]
 	 [--[no-]name-objects] [--[no-]references] [<object>...]
 
@@ -83,6 +83,13 @@ care about this output and want to speed it up further.
 	objects that trigger this check, but it is recommended
 	to check new projects with this flag.
 
+--minimal::
+	Enable minimal checking, this only errors on checks that need to pass
+	for Git to properly function on the repository.
+	This can be used on existing repositories, including the Linux kernel
+	and Git itself.
+	Cannot be used together with `--strict`.
+
 --verbose::
 	Be chatty.
 
diff --git a/builtin/fsck.c b/builtin/fsck.c
index b1a650c6731d3268c65c2204af1975fe23e6d226..9c5cc7747240b2c3d16e66b919c510e02b882260 100644
--- a/builtin/fsck.c
+++ b/builtin/fsck.c
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ static int include_reflogs = 1;
 static int check_full = 1;
 static int connectivity_only;
 static int check_strict;
+static int check_minimal;
 static int keep_cache_objects;
 static struct fsck_options fsck_walk_options = FSCK_OPTIONS_DEFAULT;
 static struct fsck_options fsck_obj_options = FSCK_OPTIONS_DEFAULT;
@@ -917,6 +918,8 @@ static void fsck_refs(struct repository *r)
 		strvec_push(&refs_verify.args, "--verbose");
 	if (check_strict)
 		strvec_push(&refs_verify.args, "--strict");
+	if (check_minimal)
+		strvec_push(&refs_verify.args, "--minimal");
 
 	if (run_command(&refs_verify))
 		errors_found |= ERROR_REFS;
@@ -927,7 +930,7 @@ static void fsck_refs(struct repository *r)
 
 static char const * const fsck_usage[] = {
 	N_("git fsck [--tags] [--root] [--unreachable] [--cache] [--no-reflogs]\n"
-	   "         [--[no-]full] [--strict] [--verbose] [--lost-found]\n"
+	   "         [--[no-]full] [--strict|--minimal] [--verbose] [--lost-found]\n"
 	   "         [--[no-]dangling] [--[no-]progress] [--connectivity-only]\n"
 	   "         [--[no-]name-objects] [--[no-]references] [<object>...]"),
 	NULL
@@ -944,6 +947,7 @@ static struct option fsck_opts[] = {
 	OPT_BOOL(0, "full", &check_full, N_("also consider packs and alternate objects")),
 	OPT_BOOL(0, "connectivity-only", &connectivity_only, N_("check only connectivity")),
 	OPT_BOOL(0, "strict", &check_strict, N_("enable more strict checking")),
+	OPT_BOOL(0, "minimal", &check_minimal, N_("enable minimal checking")),
 	OPT_BOOL(0, "lost-found", &write_lost_and_found,
 				N_("write dangling objects in .git/lost-found")),
 	OPT_BOOL(0, "progress", &show_progress, N_("show progress")),
@@ -972,10 +976,17 @@ int cmd_fsck(int argc,
 	fsck_walk_options.walk = mark_object;
 	fsck_obj_options.walk = mark_used;
 	fsck_obj_options.error_func = fsck_objects_error_func;
+
+	die_for_incompatible_opt2(check_strict, "--strict",
+				  check_minimal, "--minimal");
 	if (check_strict)
 		fsck_obj_options.strict = 1;
+	if (check_minimal)
+		fsck_obj_options.minimal = 1;
+
 
 	if (show_progress == -1)
+
 		show_progress = isatty(2);
 	if (verbose)
 		show_progress = 0;
diff --git a/builtin/refs.c b/builtin/refs.c
index 3064f888b24304ce07dba107be137ad8d420e731..4ae3ea67553df41b0247ad34db943f40a9eec421 100644
--- a/builtin/refs.c
+++ b/builtin/refs.c
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
 	N_("git refs migrate --ref-format=<format> [--no-reflog] [--dry-run]")
 
 #define REFS_VERIFY_USAGE \
-	N_("git refs verify [--strict] [--verbose]")
+	N_("git refs verify [--strict|--minimal] [--verbose]")
 
 #define REFS_EXISTS_USAGE \
 	N_("git refs exists <ref>")
@@ -89,6 +89,7 @@ static int cmd_refs_verify(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix,
 	struct option options[] = {
 		OPT_BOOL(0, "verbose", &fsck_refs_options.verbose, N_("be verbose")),
 		OPT_BOOL(0, "strict", &fsck_refs_options.strict, N_("enable strict checking")),
+		OPT_BOOL(0, "minimal", &fsck_refs_options.minimal, N_("enable minimal checking")),
 		OPT_END(),
 	};
 	int ret = 0;
@@ -97,6 +98,9 @@ static int cmd_refs_verify(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix,
 	if (argc)
 		usage(_("'git refs verify' takes no arguments"));
 
+	die_for_incompatible_opt2(fsck_refs_options.strict, "--strict",
+				  fsck_refs_options.minimal, "--minimal");
+
 	repo_config(the_repository, git_fsck_config, &fsck_refs_options);
 	prepare_repo_settings(the_repository);
 
diff --git a/fsck.c b/fsck.c
index 341e100d24ece03992d9b10d6c91c5bea089b752..299f060fd3fede6f8717d929e34a8bcc200b5f70 100644
--- a/fsck.c
+++ b/fsck.c
@@ -111,6 +111,8 @@ static enum fsck_msg_type fsck_msg_type(enum fsck_msg_id msg_id,
 
 		if (options->strict && msg_type == FSCK_WARN)
 			msg_type = FSCK_ERROR;
+		if (options->minimal && msg_type == FSCK_ERROR)
+			msg_type = FSCK_WARN;
 		return msg_type;
 	}
 
diff --git a/fsck.h b/fsck.h
index cb6ef32f4f3aaa1ac2ff8a97e38ab9b60b4fadf9..8cdf569fdc4adce9fbe60fc2f71a2ff550023b26 100644
--- a/fsck.h
+++ b/fsck.h
@@ -170,6 +170,7 @@ struct fsck_options {
 	fsck_walk_func walk;
 	fsck_error error_func;
 	unsigned strict;
+	unsigned minimal;
 	unsigned verbose;
 	enum fsck_msg_type *msg_type;
 	struct oidset skip_oids;