diff --git a/mercurial/configitems.py b/mercurial/configitems.py
--- a/mercurial/configitems.py
+++ b/mercurial/configitems.py
@@ -727,6 +727,9 @@ coreconfigitem('web', 'allow_push',
 coreconfigitem('web', 'allowzip',
     default=None,
 )
+coreconfigitem('web', 'cache',
+    default=True,
+)
 coreconfigitem('web', 'accesslog',
     default='-',
 )
diff --git a/mercurial/hgweb/hgweb_mod.py b/mercurial/hgweb/hgweb_mod.py
--- a/mercurial/hgweb/hgweb_mod.py
+++ b/mercurial/hgweb/hgweb_mod.py
@@ -436,7 +436,7 @@ class hgweb(object):
 
             # Don't enable caching if using a CSP nonce because then it wouldn't
             # be a nonce.
-            if rctx.configbool('web', 'cache', True) and not rctx.nonce:
+            if rctx.configbool('web', 'cache') and not rctx.nonce:
                 caching(self, req) # sets ETag header or raises NOT_MODIFIED
             if cmd not in webcommands.__all__:
                 msg = 'no such method: %s' % cmd