diff --git a/Documentation/git-status.txt b/Documentation/git-status.txt
index 7731b45f078e92..0646c606cfa46f 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-status.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-status.txt
@@ -149,6 +149,13 @@ ignored, then the directory is not shown, but all contents are shown.
 	threshold.
 	See also linkgit:git-diff[1] `--find-renames`.
 
+--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 28e26fcc0233a7..249c47efc5a63b 100644
--- a/builtin/commit.c
+++ b/builtin/commit.c
@@ -1382,6 +1382,7 @@ int cmd_status(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 {
 	static int no_renames = -1;
 	static const char *rename_score_arg = (const char *)-1;
+	static int no_lock_index = 0;
 	static struct wt_status s;
 	unsigned int progress_flag = 0;
 	int fd;
@@ -1420,6 +1421,9 @@ int cmd_status(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		{ OPTION_CALLBACK, 'M', "find-renames", &rename_score_arg,
 		  N_("n"), N_("detect renames, optionally set similarity index"),
 		  PARSE_OPT_OPTARG | PARSE_OPT_NONEG, opt_parse_rename_score },
+		OPT_BOOL(0, "no-lock-index", &no_lock_index,
+			 N_("(DEPRECATED: use `git --no-optional-locks status` "
+			    "instead) Do not lock the index")),
 		OPT_END(),
 	};
 
@@ -1433,6 +1437,12 @@ int cmd_status(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	finalize_colopts(&s.colopts, -1);
 	finalize_deferred_config(&s);
 
+	if (no_lock_index) {
+		warning("--no-lock-index is deprecated, use --no-optional-locks"
+			" instead");
+		setenv(GIT_OPTIONAL_LOCKS_ENVIRONMENT, "false", 1);
+	}
+
 	handle_untracked_files_arg(&s);
 	handle_ignored_arg(&s);
 
diff --git a/t/t7508-status.sh b/t/t7508-status.sh
index d6220431a7d48d..2aebbcc194b8e1 100755
--- a/t/t7508-status.sh
+++ b/t/t7508-status.sh
@@ -1610,6 +1610,17 @@ test_expect_success '"Initial commit" should not be noted in commit template' '
 	test_i18ngrep ! "Initial commit" output
 '
 
+test_expect_success '--no-lock-index prevents index update and is deprecated' '
+	test-tool chmtime =1234567890 .git/index &&
+	git status --no-lock-index 2>err &&
+	grep "no-lock-index is deprecated" err &&
+	test-tool chmtime -v +0 .git/index >out &&
+	grep ^1234567890 out &&
+	git status &&
+	test-tool chmtime -v +0 .git/index >out &&
+	! grep ^1234567890 out
+'
+
 test_expect_success '--no-optional-locks prevents index update' '
 	test-tool chmtime =1234567890 .git/index &&
 	git --no-optional-locks status &&