diff --git a/mercurial/configitems.py b/mercurial/configitems.py
--- a/mercurial/configitems.py
+++ b/mercurial/configitems.py
@@ -612,6 +612,9 @@ coreconfigitem('web', 'csp',
 coreconfigitem('web', 'deny_read',
     default=list,
 )
+coreconfigitem('web', 'descend',
+    default=True,
+)
 coreconfigitem('worker', 'backgroundclose',
     default=dynamicdefault,
 )
diff --git a/mercurial/hgweb/hgwebdir_mod.py b/mercurial/hgweb/hgwebdir_mod.py
--- a/mercurial/hgweb/hgwebdir_mod.py
+++ b/mercurial/hgweb/hgwebdir_mod.py
@@ -324,7 +324,7 @@ class hgwebdir(object):
 
         def rawentries(subdir="", **map):
 
-            descend = self.ui.configbool('web', 'descend', True)
+            descend = self.ui.configbool('web', 'descend')
             collapse = self.ui.configbool('web', 'collapse')
             seenrepos = set()
             seendirs = set()