diff --git a/mercurial/commands.py b/mercurial/commands.py
--- a/mercurial/commands.py
+++ b/mercurial/commands.py
@@ -5845,7 +5845,8 @@ def status(ui, repo, *pats, **opts):
                        opts.get('subrepos'))
     changestates = zip(states, 'MAR!?IC', stat)
 
-    if (opts.get('all') or opts.get('copies')) and not opts.get('no_status'):
+    if (opts.get('all') or opts.get('copies')
+        or ui.configbool('ui', 'statuscopies')) and not opts.get('no_status'):
         copy = copies.pathcopies(repo[node1], repo[node2])
 
     fm = ui.formatter('status', opts)
diff --git a/mercurial/help/config.txt b/mercurial/help/config.txt
--- a/mercurial/help/config.txt
+++ b/mercurial/help/config.txt
@@ -1432,6 +1432,9 @@ User interface controls.
     backslash character (``\``)).
     Default is False.
 
+``statuscopies``
+    Display copies in the status command.
+
 ``ssh``
     command to use for SSH connections. Default is ``ssh``.
 
diff --git a/mercurial/ui.py b/mercurial/ui.py
--- a/mercurial/ui.py
+++ b/mercurial/ui.py
@@ -158,7 +158,7 @@ class ui(object):
 
         if self.plain():
             for k in ('debug', 'fallbackencoding', 'quiet', 'slash',
-                      'logtemplate', 'style',
+                      'logtemplate', 'statuscopies', 'style',
                       'traceback', 'verbose'):
                 if k in cfg['ui']:
                     del cfg['ui'][k]
diff --git a/tests/test-status.t b/tests/test-status.t
--- a/tests/test-status.t
+++ b/tests/test-status.t
@@ -438,6 +438,15 @@ without force
     b
   R b
 
+using ui.statuscopies setting
+  $ hg st --config ui.statuscopies=true
+  M a
+    b
+  R b
+  $ hg st --config ui.statuscopies=false
+  M a
+  R b
+
 Other "bug" highlight, the revision status does not report the copy information.
 This is buggy behavior.