diff --git a/doc/hgrc.5.txt b/doc/hgrc.5.txt
--- a/doc/hgrc.5.txt
+++ b/doc/hgrc.5.txt
@@ -1052,6 +1052,8 @@ The full set of options is:
 
     To disable SSL verification temporarily, specify ``--insecure`` from
     command line.
+``cache``
+    Whether to support caching in hgweb. Defaults to True.
 ``contact``
     Name or email address of the person in charge of the repository.
     Defaults to ui.username or ``$EMAIL`` or "unknown" if unset or empty.
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
@@ -188,7 +188,8 @@ class hgweb(object):
                 req.form['cmd'] = [tmpl.cache['default']]
                 cmd = req.form['cmd'][0]
 
-            caching(self, req) # sets ETag header or raises NOT_MODIFIED
+            if self.configbool('web', 'cache', True):
+                caching(self, req) # sets ETag header or raises NOT_MODIFIED
             if cmd not in webcommands.__all__:
                 msg = 'no such method: %s' % cmd
                 raise ErrorResponse(HTTP_BAD_REQUEST, msg)